The Enterprise approaches star cluster NGC321 on a diplomatic mission. They are to attempt to make palsy-walsy with the 2 civilizations there: Eminiar, the apparently dominant culture, and Vendikar, their pugnacious neighbor.
There is a diplomat on board, authorized to manage these proceedings, which means it's not up to Kirk this time to handle negotiations (as he usually does, to good effect). It's safe to assume that the UFP thought a specialist was called for in this case.
That leaves Kirk the job of running the starship, sitting around minding his own business, and waiting to step in and handle things in case things get ugly.
The Federation knows very little about Eminiar VII, except that it has had space travel for several centuries but has never ventured beyond its own solar system. The Federation also knows that when Eminiar was first contacted, it was at war with Vendikar, its closest neighbor. However, the Federation ship making the report never returned, and was listed as lost in space.
Eminiar sends a Code 710 signal telling the Enterprise not to approach under any circumstances. Ambassador Fox, a butt-ugly old guy in a futuristic business suit, orders Kirk to disregard the warning. Kirk protests, saying:
"It's their planet!"
[NOTE: Kirk thinks they should respect the people's right to refuse visitors, and manage their own affairs their own way.]
Ambassador Fox stands up to Kirk, and with stone-face finality tells him his orders are to approach, establish relations, and wrangle a starbase deal - no excuses. Star Fleet desperately needs a star base in this quadrant, and these guys are their only hope.
[NOTE: I don't think that sounds logical. It might be nice to have a nearby planet that is supportive, but do they actually need their permission?]
Kirk starts to protest some more. He's worried about the danger to ship and crew. He warns Fox that going forward could involve them in a war. Fox firmly and nastily reminds Kirk that he outranks him, and gives him a direct order to proceed, despite the warnings, despite any risk.
[NOTE: THIS is an ~ambassador~? It doesn't look good, folks. He doesn't seem very diplomatic.]
Kirk swallows his pride, declares yellow alert, orders the shields up, and follows orders, even though he plainly doesn't like what he is being asked to do.
[NOTE: And who can blame him? The "ambassador" doesn't seem to have any ambassadorial skills.]
[NOTE: Where's the rebellious, headstrong, yahoo Kirk of fabled fame? He ain't here, folks. Me, I didn't expect him to be here. Rebel Kirk is a myth.]
[Special NOTE: If it was Kirk's personal choice, they wouldn't be going in at all. He's obeying direct orders from a UFP representative.]
Because they recognize that there may be danger, Kirk leads the first landing party to be sure things are secure before beaming down the Ambassador.
Kirk leaves Scotty in charge and beams down with Spock, 2 redshirts, and a cute lil gal in a red tunic. They are almost immediately greeted by a gorgeous cool-mannered blond and her henchmen. The blond identifies herself as Mea 3, and she leads them to High-Mucky-Muck Anon 7, and his High Council gang.
[NOTE: Despite the sappy "Oh, look, a pretty girl" background music, Kirk behaves professionally and doesn't flirt at all. There is not a flicker of a flirt. Neither Kirk nor Spock show any heterosexual-style interest in the women in this episode. They hardly seem to notice that they are female. Anybody who is patiently waiting for Kirk to romantically embrace either of the dames we're been introduced to wait in vain.]
Kirk and party march in and are greeted in a gravely formal manner. Kirk introduces himself, introduces Spock as "My first officer, Mr. Spock", and then names his red-clad comrades: Lt. Galloway, Lt. Osborne (both security guys), and Yeoman Tamura (who is there to take notes).
[NOTE: Kirk is there to say hello. Tamura is there to document the exchange. The security guys are there to protect Kirk and Spock. Why is Spock there? Why does Kirk often take Spock along even when there is no obvious reason for him to be there?]
[NOTE: None of the humanoid Eminiarians seem surprised to see a Vulcan. Nobody stares strangely at Spock, or questions his ears. This is never explained.]
Anon 7 politely welcomes them all to the planet, and asks what he can do for Kirk. Kirk politely explains his mission. Anon 7 politely assures them all that Kirk is wasting his time. Kirk politely asks why. Anon 7 politely explains to Kirk that Eminiar has been at war with Vendikar (for no stated reason), for 500 years, despite the fact that no evidence of warfare is in view.
They shortly thereafter witness a fusion bomb "attack." Yeoman Tamura reports that her tricorder shows no radiation disturbances, and Scotty confirms via communicator that nothing seems to have happened. Nevertheless Anon 7 claims that half a million people have just been killed. A counterattack is ordered by Anon 7 and the "attack unit" is put to work as they watch. Nothing happens.
Spock suddenly blurts out that the war is apparently being fought by computer, which keeps the war nice and tidy for everybody, which Spock doesn't approve of, but he does logically understand.
Anon 7 explains that the citizens who are declared "dead" are then required to report to disintegration chambers. Unfortunately, the Enterprise has been declared destroyed by a tri-cobalt satellite explosion from Vendikar, and all persons aboard the Enterprise are ordered to report for disintegration within 24 hours. Kirk and his landing party are arrested, and are to be held in custody until the crew surrenders.
Next thing you know, Kirk is pacing restlessly around a tiny but comfortably furnished waiting room, while the others sit and sulk. Suddenly Mea 3 comes in and asks if they need anything.
Kirk starts making demands, as you'd expect. He demands to speak with Anon 7. No dice, says Mea 3.
"He's busy coordinating casualty lists", she explains.
"He'll have more casualty lists than he knows what to do with if he doesn't get in here and talk to me!" Kirk warns.
[NOTE: What does Kirk plan to do, discipline the guy with a writing assignment?]
[NOTE: Kirk knows that the Federation will not let the loss of the Enterprise pass. He already foresees that the loss of the ship and all hands will be interpreted as an act of war, which will in effect doom Eminiar. Eminiar against the whole UFP would be like Custer against the Indians at Little Big Horn. Kirk knows this, and because he has a scrap of decency he'd like a chance to warn Anon 7 before it's too late.]
Mea 3 tells Kirk she also has been declared a casualty, and so must report for disintegration. She very eloquently and sincerely advocates in favor of the way her people wage war, but Kirk remains unconvinced of the wisdom of the system. As she exits, he again demands an audience with Anon 7, to no avail.
Anon 7 attempts to trick the crew into coming down via communicator by imitating Kirk's voice, and declaring that full diplomatic relations have been established. He orders the entire crew to come ashore. Scotty recognizes that the things "Kirk" is saying are irregular and just plain not by the book, and therefore is immediately skeptical.
[NOTE: Scotty knows that Kirk wouldn't really ask all hands to abandon the ship, because that's highly irregular, and Scotty knows that Kirk is a by-the-book kind of guy. This is more evidence that the "rebel Kirk" of popular notion is a myth.]
Scott analyzes a recording of the conversation with the ship's computer, which determines with 98% certainty that a voice duplicator has been used. As Scotty suspected, it's NOT the real Kirk.
[NOTE: Get what happens next!]
Meanwhile, back in the holding cell, Spock offers to use a rare Vulcan telepathic ability to convince the guard to open the door.
"Are you sure you can do it, Mr. Spock?" Jim asks.
"Limited telepathic abilities are inherent in Vulcanians, Captain", Spock replies. "It may work."
"Do your best" sez Jim.
[NOTE: Check it out! Limited telepathic abilities are inherent in Vulcanians/Vulcans! Who knew! We knew, that's who knew. We saw Spock pull a similar feat in Devil In The Dark, when he communicated at a distance with the dangerous Horta. What's remarkable is, this time, Spock is going to attempt to convince somebody to do something that they wouldn't ordinarily do, from a distance, without touching - maybe without ever having touched the person. And in this case, for this purpose, Jim approves.]
Spock puts his hands on the door that stands between him and freedom, and furrows his brow, concentrating. His hand creeps slowly across the door, to the wall (behind which, the guard stands). Jim smiles admiringly, watching.
Well, it works! The guy suddenly decides out of the blue that it would be totally cool to open the cell - whereupon he is summarily dealt with by Kirk.
[NOTE: this isn't the only time Spock manipulates people from afar like they are big puppets and he's a telepathic puppet-master: he does it again in The Omega Glory. He could have been doing it other times, too, without our attention being drawn to it, which might explain some other TOS oddities ... but I digress.
It's important to remember that Spock enters people's minds and messes with them without their permission ~several times~. We even saw him do it to Kirk once, in Requiem For Methuselah, *and* to McCoy once, in ST2. So this incident is no singular TOS oddity. When Nimoy protested that Spock wouldn't sneakily edit Kirk's thoughts in RFM, he was wrong. In fact, Spock does do this sort of thing rather casually, several times, to both enemies and friends...apparently without any moral qualms.]
Kirk takes the guard's pistol, and our escapees stealthily sneak away in a totally random direction. They incidentally happen across Mea 3, and Kirk grabs her to keep her from trotting off to obediently kill herself, as is the custom here. They see the nearby disintegration chamber she was headed for, where doomed locals have meekly lined up to wait their turns for death.
While Kirk hangs on to the deeply dismayed Mea 3 (not the faintest flicker of romance in the air, folks), Spock strolls boldly up to the guy in charge of the disintegration station...
[NOTE: This takes big brass balls.]
[NOTE: ...and the guy, amazingly, doesn't seem surprised to see a Vulcan running around loose...]
[NOTE: ...and amazingly, the nearby arrested Mea 3 doesn't scream out a warning to her countryman....]
Spock brazenly and casually lies to the guy to explain why he is going to reach for his shoulder.
"Sir, there is a multi-legged creature crawling on your shoulder."
Then he employs his trademarked Vulcan nerve pinch to incapacitate the man, while Kirk watches, smiling admiringly.
Spock takes the guy's weapon for himself and backs away, while a small crowd of stunned locals stare, utterly dumbfounded.
[NOTE: Oh, NOW they think Spock is unusual! I wonder what it was that he did that finally impressed them? Was it the colorful lie? Was it the pinch? Maybe they can't understand why a Vulcan would want a handgun so bad. Who knows?]
Kirk then orders everybody else to stand back, and blasts the chamber, destroying it.
[NOTE: Nothing like a little vandalism to get the blood pumping, huh, Jim? No Prime Directive worries here, folks! Don't forget, Kirk is under direct orders to interfere in this culture, whether they like it or not! As usual, he finds a way to make his job fun, by (in this case) making sure that they don't like it.]
Mea 3 freaks out. Instead of simply running away while she can, she stands around and expresses stern, shocked disapproval about Kirk's reckless, pointless, and totally unpatriotic misbehavior.
Meanwhile, back in the council chamber, Anon 7 is told that his hostages have escaped, and that they are armed, and that they used their weapons to destroy disintegrator 12. Anon 7 reacts by ordering the escaped prisoners stopped by any necessary means, and BTW, destroy the Enterprise.
[NOTE: So now what? Their computer tells the Enterprise computers to self-destruct? And our computers say what, "Bite Me"?]
Well, surprise surprise, the Eminiarians actually do have real weapons of war, after all, even though they don't usually actually deploy them. The Enterprise is in real danger. Since they plainly don't want to play the game the proper way, they are to be destroyed the old fashioned way.
[NOTE: this attack on the Enterprise constitutes an act of war, but technically, they started it, by ignoring warnings to stay away. If they had stayed away as asked, none of this would have happened. Remember: Kirk is interfering here because he has been ordered to interfere here. I don't think it counts as Prime Directive violation when it:
1) involves an advanced culture that picks a fight with you. 2) involves interfering because you were ordered by a duly-appointed UFP representative who outranks you - who's been ordered to interfere - to help him to interfere.
In any case, PD-wise Kirk is off the hook, and he apparently figures that that's as good as a blank check, and acts accordingly.]
So now the Enterprise is under attack. Well, they were warned! They shouldn't be surprised. Kirk wouldn't be surprised, in fact, he foresaw this possibility. He also foresees what will happen next, and is desperate to stop everything before everything gets totally out of hand which is why he is acting so crazy.
Meanwhile, aboard the ship, Scott has raised the shields and the sonic weapon fire (magnitude 18 to the 12th power decibels, wow!) causes no damage.
[NOTE: thank goodness for the shields!]
Scotty muses aloud that he can't respond with full-power phasers with the screens up...
[NOTE: Huh? Since when?]
...but he considers giving the Eminiarians a taste of photon torpedoes.
Ambassador Robert Fox doesn't like this kind of talk. He doesn't want the Enterprise hip-deep in trouble...
[NOTE: Huh? Since when?]
...and says the attack was probably the result of a "misunderstanding". He orders Scott to make no punitive moves.
After he exits, Scotty quips:
"The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank!"
[NOTE: But only when the shields are down, right Scotty? When the shields are up I assume you prefer diplomatic photon torpedoes.]
Meanwhile, back on the planet, Kirk and party bring Mea 3 back to the room they escaped from. Kirk says it's the last place anyone will look for them.
[NOTE: or maybe he just thinks it's a really nice cell. Kirk does have a peculiar habit of getting himself into prison cells when everybody else would be doing all they can to stay out of them.]
Our guys take stock of all that they acquired on their shopping trip: 2 jumpsuits taken from guards, an extra disrupter pistol, and one of the Eminiarian communicators. Spock gets to work on modifying the communicator so they can use it, and Kirk implores Mea 3 to help them to end civilization as she knows it.
Mea 3 naturally and sensibly refuses to cooperate with the Barbarians from outer space. Brave girl. She's only one of the MANY women whom we have met in TOS who DOES NOT think that Kirk is irresistibly charming.
Meanwhile, back at the ship, Fox initiates a chat with Anon 7, who lies through his teeth AGAIN, the snake, claiming that an error in their sensors indicated that the Enterprise was about to attack them, hence the "mistake".
Fox, reassured by the enemy's lies, says he'll beam down, but Scott flatly refuses to lower the screens for that or any other reason until the Captain himself orders it.
[NOTE: Hoorah for Scotty! He's our man!]
Frustrated and pissed, Fox threatens to have Mr. Scott sent to a penal colony for refusing to obey. Scotty stands firm. Feathers all aruffle, Fox exits.
McCoy says, "Well, Scotty, now you've done it!"
"Ay", Scotty agrees, "The haggis is in the fire for sure."
Meanwhile, back on the planet, alone in his apartment, Anon 7 tries to calm his nerves with a drink, and Kirk surprises him by showing up as if for a taste of the happy hour buffet.
[NOTE: Please understand that we have NO REASON to believe that Mea 3 turned traitor and divulged any helpful information willingly. Kirk could have found Anon 7 by luck alone, or by diligently searching. OR Spock could have mind-melded with Mea 3 and forced the info out of her, and YES, he is the kind of guy who would do that. Spock wouldn't hesitate to use his abilities on his unwilling FRIENDS, so you know doing it to an enemy, especially under these circumstances would be like nothing to him.]
Anon 7, oddly, offers Kirk a drink. Kirk refuses. Anon 7 calls Kirk a Barbarian. Kirk acts flattered, and approaches, until he is standing closer than arm's length away from Anon 7, as if daring the aggrieved Mr. 7 to grab for the pistol he's pointing at him.
[NOTE: Oh, dear. Oh, here we go again. Kirk's trademarked kinky side seems poised to rear its horny little head, once again.]
Anon 7 waxes eloquent about what beasts all men are, and Kirk smiles a bit and nods agreement.
[NOTE: Yep, he's speaking Kirk's language. Kirk is sincere. He honestly agrees with the guy about all of that. In fact, he's getting virtually the same little speech that Kirk himself has given on other occasions. It seems these two are two-of-a-kind.]
Kirk points out one possibly significant difference in their similar philosophies:
"We're a little less cold-blooded about it than you are."
[NOTE: Got that? Kirk, by his own admission, is a HOT-BLOODED BARBARIAN. That's why he doesn't want a drink: he doesn't need a drink, he's already in the mood to dance.]
"What do you want, Captain?" Anon queries.
Jim turns his back on Anon, and strolls away slowly as if inviting the guy to try to attack, or escape.
"I want to contact my ship", Kirk answers.
Then he turns, approaches Anon slowly, and keeps on coming until he can _tickle the guy's nipple with his pistol_ without even stretching his arm out. He presses his pistol sensuously against Anon's nipple and softly asks:
"Where are our communicators?"
[NOTE: Anon, blushing, looks at his hostage nipple, looks at Kirk, and remains utterly still, considering his options. I can just see the wheels turning in his brain. He's thinking, "I could just pluck the gun from his hand like picking a flower right now. I could certainly easily knock the gun out of his hand right now..."
He does nothing to save himself, I guess, because Kirk's sexy gun game is turning him on, maybe.]
Where was I? Oh yeah. Kirk asked where the communicators are.
"In a safe place" Anon blandly replies.
"You take a lot of chances, Councilman!" Jim exclaims.
[NOTE: Pot, kettle, black.]
"You're worried about your ship, Captain. I'm trying to save a world."
Aroused, Jim shoves the guy up against the wall and leans on him, pistol pointed at Anon's other nipple this time.
Adopting a tough persona suitable for the occasion and present company, Jim sez, "If I were you, I'd think about saving my life!"
Anon looks at his threatened nipple, looks deeply into Jim's hot-blooded Barbarian eyes, realizes maybe that Kirk is a raging faggot and kinky to boot, and tries offering Kirk a drink, again. This time, Jim looks deeply into Anon's lyin' eyes, sees a promise in them, and agrees to take a drink after all, since it's now time for his coffee break.
[NOTE: Well? What else? Did Kirk think that the guy's failure to fight for the gun turned this, in his mind, into a festive social occasion? Is Kirk simply overcome with curiosity about what they call drinking stuff around here? Is he trying to lure his playmate into a struggle for the gun because he feels the need to fight and get kicked around? Does he plan to ultimately lose the struggle because he'd really would rather be the hostage in this scenario? What? Knowing Jim, it actually could be all of the above.]
Blah, blah, blah, while chatting with Kirk, Mr. 7 secretly signals for help. He tells Kirk how to find the communicators. Kirk, who actually is no dummy, shoves Anon out the door first and right into the arms of a lurking guard. Kirk shoves the guard to the floor, as another guard immediately runs up and attacks. Kirk fights with him, while the other guy gets up, and joins in.
Long story short, they kick Kirk's ass, and Kirk is taken prisoner again. Big surprise.
Fox beams down, and after some pleasantries and a short stroll is politely informed by Anon 7 that he and his aide are to be killed.
Spock, using the modified Eminiarian communicator, contacts Scotty and they breathlessly update each other. Spock tells Scotty to let no one else beam down. He orders the ship to move out to "maximum phaser range", and to stand by for further orders. He orders Yeoman Tamura to stand guard over the obviously still recalcitrant Mea 3. He then takes Galloway and Osborne (now in native dress) with him, to go look for Jim.
Spock approaches another disintegration chamber just in time to rescue Fox and his aide. He destroys it, they claim another pistol from that station's guard, and continue their search for Jim.
Meanwhile, Kirk is seated in the council chamber, in the midst of a small crowd of his enemies, and he's getting lectured by Anon 7. Anon stands over Jim and waxes eloquent about the horrors of war: the destruction, and pain, and suffering, n stuff. Jim's eyes light up. Anon, seeing that talk of suffering gives Jim a hardon, asks what kind of monster Kirk is.
Jim looks around and takes stock of his situation. He's surrounded by several angry men who are aroused, frightened, and desperate. He cannily calculates that if he says or does anything they don't like, they might be provoked into brutal acts, and he therefore next says what for him is a perfectly logical thing to say:
"I'm a Barbarian", Jim declaims. "I plan to prove it to you"
[NOTE: Typical. What are you trying to do Jim, get your ass kicked some more? That's what it looks like.]
[Special NOTE: I actually have a lot of sympathy for Jim at this moment. He's like a teenage boy who is on a date with a girl who won't stop talking about sex. Sex, sex, sex. She's been babbling all evening long about how people are hypocritical about sex, and she thinks everybody should have sex before marriage, and sex is a natural appetite, and so on. A boy in such a situation can't be blamed for thinking that the girl is hinting pretty strongly that she herself would like to have sex pretty soon, and he naturally will become impatient eventually for that to happen.
Kirk is a professional warrior. He didn't go into this business because he's afraid of it. Of course he's kind of hankering for it. Pain doesn't scare him - he's the Pain Master. For guys like Kirk, battle is a kind of a relief. It justifies all his years of training and anticipation. He keeps his crew on their toes and all the weapons in top working order precisely for days like this. He was ready before all the talk of war began. He's ready when there has been no warning, so after a whole day's worth of warning he's definitely ready to dance.
There's been talk of pain and suffering and destruction and warfare all frickin' day! Of course Kirk's getting anxious. If you were him, you would be too.
Ok, so Kirk's getting a little bit testy. He's been under a tremendous amount of tension lately. What happens next shouldn't really surprise anybody.]
[NOTE: Now follows one of the most controversial acts in all of Trekdom.]
When Anon 7 contacts the Enterprise, and Scotty's familiar voice answers, Kirk explodes out of his chair and shouts at the radio:
"SCOTTY! GENERAL ORDER 24 IN 2 HOURS! IN TWO HOURS!"
Kirk is seized and subdued by the guards, but his message got through.
General Order 24? Vos is dos General Order 24? We soon find out.
Anon 7 tells Scotty that he's holding Captain Kirk and all the others who came down hostage, and that if all the crew doesn't beam down within 30 minutes, the hostages will be killed.
Anon to Kirk: "I mean it, Captain."
[Translation: Suck my ass!]
Kirk to Anon: "All that means is that I won't be around...when the Enterprise destroys Eminiar."
[Translation: Oh no, I insist that you instead suck MY ass!"]
[NOTE: Kirk seems as sincere as Anon does.]
Nobody blinks.
Anon 7 impulsively orders the destruction of the Enterprise. He is told that the ship has moved out of range.
Now Anon blinks.
"You wouldn't do this!", he gasps, overwhelmed by the thought of the enormity of what Kirk is preparing to do. "Hundreds of millions of people!"
"I didn't start this", Kirk softly tells him, "but I'm liable to finish it."
[NOTE: That is true. Kirk didn't start any of it. None of it was his idea. BTW, when he says he's liable to finish it, he doesn't specify how. We don't actually know for sure from what little we have been told that General Order 24 actually means "destroy the whole planet". Maybe it means, "Threaten to destroy the whole planet, make it look good, and bluff like crazy."
Anyway, Kirk also did not invent the General Orders - that also is somebody else's idea. Kirk is probably simply doing what he has been trained to do in such extreme circumstances. This is not a corbomite kind of thing, where he obviously is getting creative. As far as I can see, Kirk's still doing everything pretty much by the book.]
Now Scotty calls down to report that if the Eminiarians don't surrender the hostages, that the entire inhabited surface of the planet will be destroyed. Uhura sitting at her station, reacts with shock.
[NOTE: Uhura's reaction should be a clear signal to you all that the threat is as shocking to her as it is to the rest of us. Think about what that possibly means. THINK.]
Anon 7 falls apart. He's never been faced with such a horrifying prospect. He doesn't know what to do. He sags, and seems to need a hug.
The two guards by the door move toward him, apparently to give the guy the hug he so desperately needs, and quick as a flash, Kirk trips one, shoves the other into two more guards who are nearby, and this confuses everybody long enough for Kirk to grab a pistol from one of the flustered and utterly inept guards.
Kirk points the disrupter handgun at his opponents, efficiently rounds them all up and herds them all over to one side of the room, picks up another fallen pistol, and, with a pistol in each hand pointed at this wimpy bunch, he says, "Now we'll talk!"
[Translation: Now I'LL TALK, AND YOU'LL LISTEN.]
Spock suddenly bursts in, all ready to save the day. Gee, if Kirk had just waited 30 more seconds, Spock could have earned a medal. All he'll get now is a lousy T-shirt.
Kirk and Spock together enter the computer center. Spock explains how to destroy them all: destroy the central computer, and all the computers it's linked to will be destroyed in a chain reaction. This in effect will violate the treaty with Vendikar.
Calmly and without ceremony, Kirk blasts the main computer. Then they all run like hell, and duck and cover, while the exploding computers put on a show.
[NOTE: Everybody but Kirk and Spock go right. Kirk and Spock, as usual, go left, and create for a moment a little world that is all their own, like they do every other chance they get.]
[NOTE: Up 'til now, Kirk has roughed up a couple of guys, and in turn got roughed up, but nobody has been killed. To the contrary, many people who normally would be dead by now are instead still alive, thanks to Kirk.]
Alas, real warfare must now be waged... ~unless~ Eminiar instead finally makes peace with their dear old enemy.
Kirk delivers one of his famous pretty little speeches:
"We are killers, but we're not going to kill today."
Anon wisely decides after all that peace might be best for all concerned, and Fox offers to mediate the negotiations.
Who cares if he's the right man for that job? Mission accomplished, hoorah, hoorah.
Unfortunately, they can't arrive at a suitable agreement in time, and the Enterprise makes good on their promise and lays the entire surface of the planet to waste NO THEY DON'T.
Don't be RIDICULOUS.
Had you goin' there for a second, though, huh!?
At the end, the usual group stands around the Captain's chair rehashing what happened.
Spock says, "Captain, you almost make me believe in luck."
Jim gives him a very warm, intimate smile.
"Why Mr. Spock...", he coos, "...you almost make me believe in miracles!"
Oh, cut it out, you two. For decency's sake, please get a room.
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