"Space, the final frontier." "These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise." "Its five-year mission:" "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no man has gone before." "Captain's Log, Stardate 6334. 1." "The outbreak of choriocytosis aboard the Enterprise seems to be under control." "Dr McCoy says the disease is no longer even as serious as pneumonia, and there should be no problem completing our present mission, representing the Federation at the dedication ceremonies for the new Academy of Science on Deneb V." "Status, Mr Spock?" "All systems affirmative, Captain." "The Enterprise is on course and on schedule." "It'll be nice to play diplomat for a change, eh, Spock?" "Kirk to Sickbay." "Emergency!" "Jim, choriocytosis is a strange disease." "In races with iron-based blood, it's practically nothing," "but in others..." "Get to the point, Bones." "Spock has contracted the disease." "It's fatal to Vulcans." "Are you sure?" "l've triple-checked, Jim." "I wish to God I was wrong." "Spock's blood is copper-based." "The infection enters the bloodstream, and encases the cells so they can't carry oxygen." "The result is suffocation." "Yes, Jim." "ls there any cure?" "One." "A naturally-occurring drug called strobolin." "But it's only found on a few planets in the galaxy." "Library computer." "Working." "What is the nearest strobolin supply planet to our present position?" "Beta Canopus." "Four solar days away at maximum warp." "How long can Spock last without the drug?" "I can give him injections of a synthesised drug that would slow the disease." "But after two days the body builds up an immunity." "It loses its effectiveness." "By the end of the third day, the disease will be irreversible." "It'll take four days to get the drug, but Spock will die in three." "There's got to be a way!" "What about a rendezvous?" "Of course!" "If we can't go out of our way to get the drug in time, there must be another ship closer to Beta Canopus." "Kirk to Bridge." "Get me Starfleet, Lieutenant." "Captain's Log, supplemental." "We've arranged to get the strobolin needed to save Mr Spock's life." "The Starship Potemkin has already picked up the drug and will transfer it to a freighter, the S.S. Huron, for delivery to the Enterprise." "What will the symptoms be, Bones?" "lncreasing tiredness, steadily decreasing efficiency, all the symptoms of working in an oxygen-deficient atmosphere." "Kind of like the test you had to pass back at the Academy." "Come." "You wished to see me, sir?" "Yes, Spock, sit down." "We've arranged a rendezvous to pick up the drug you need." "I trust it will not affect our scheduled arrival at Deneb V." "No, it won't." "Will that be all, Captain?" "One other thing." "I've cut your duty time in half." "Captain, that won't be necessary." "l'm quite able..." "No arguments, Spock." "Doctor's orders." "Anything else, sir?" "That's all, Spock." "Dismissed." "lt'll hurt seeing him like that." "l know." "As much as it might seem at times that I can't stand that pointy-eared encyclopaedia, I don't want to see that happen to him." "ETA at rendezvous point, two hours and seven minutes, Captain." "Good." "That's a pretty important drug we've got for the Enterprise." "I'd just as soon get rid of it and get back to shipping just dilithium." "Sir, our sensors are picking up a ship ahead." "Could the Enterprise be that early?" "l'm not sure it's the Enterprise, sir." "It's too far away to tell." "Where's it headed?" "Toward us, sir." "Keep an eye on it, Lieutenant." "Time to rendezvous, Mr Arex?" "One hour, 43 minutes, sir." "I hate to ask, but..." "Aye, Captain, we'll squeeze a wee bit more speed out of her." "McCoy to Bridge." "What is it, Bones?" "Tell Spock it's time for another shot." "Mr Spock." "Spock..." "l was conserving energy, Captain." "McCoy wants you in Sickbay." "Sensor readout, Captain." "It's not the Enterprise closing on us, sir." "Another starship?" "No, sir." "It's an alien ship, a design I've never seen before." "Put it on the screen." "You're sure it's following us?" "It's on an intercept course now, Captain." "And at this speed, they'll get us before we get to the Enterprise." "This won't hurt a bit, Spock." "An unnecessary assurance, Doctor, in addition to being untrue." "That's the last time I waste my bedside manner on a Vulcan." "Such restraint would be welcome." "Not so fast, Spock." "Lie there quietly." "Well, that's not too bad." "Back to work, Mr Spock." "Thank you, Doctor." "The drug isn't working anymore." "l know, Christine. I know." "Don't worry, we'll have the strobolin soon." "They've increased speed, sir, closing fast." "Open hailing frequencies again." "Open, sir." "To unidentified alien vessel." "This is Captain O'Shea of the S.S. Huron." "Please state your registry and purpose." "Repeat." "Please identify yourself and your purpose." "It's no use, sir." "They're receiving, but they're not answering." "Well, we've got a hold full of dilithium and that drug to protect." "Evasive manoeuvres." "No good, Captain." "Send out an emergency signal to the Enterprise." "Yes, sir." "Message from the alien, sir." "Let's hear it." "Prepare to surrender your cargo, or be destroyed." "Captain, I'm getting a signal from the Huron." "It's an emergency beacon, automated." "Try ship-to-ship." "l did, sir, no response." "Sensor report, Mr Spock." "Are they at the rendezvous point?" "No, sir." "They hadn't reached it." "Compute new course, Mr Arex." "Let's see what's going on." "The Huron's power levels are at bare minimum for life support, Captain." "I'm picking up metallic debris." "Was the Huron attacked?" "Based on present data, I would say yes." "Spock, are you all right?" "Captain, I..." "Bridge to Sickbay!" "Emergency!" "We've got to have that drug, Jim." "The synthetic is useless now." "Do what you can, Bones." "Blasted Vulcan!" "Why couldn't you have red blood like any normal human?" "Status?" "The Huron's engines are dead." "Emergency battery power is operating life support systems at a low but acceptable level." "Still unable to make contact, sir." "ls anyone on that ship alive?" "Yes, sir." "Mr Scott, Lieutenant Uhura, come with me." "Mr Sulu, you have the conn." "We're beaming over." "Scotty, check the cargo hold." "See if the drug is there." "Aye, sir." "Uhura, see if you can get a playback of the log." "I want to know what happened here." "Nurse, attend to the wounded." "Scott to Captain Kirk." "Kirk here." "Report, Mr Scott." "There's nothing down here, Captain." "No drug?" "No drug and no dilithium shipment." "The hold is completely empty." "All right." "Report back up here." "This screen is out, sir." "But we can take the tapes and play them back on the Enterprise." "Good." "Nurse, how is he?" "He needs surgery, Captain, but he'll live." "Kirk to Enterprise." "Ready to beam over." "Have the medical team standing by." "How's O'Shea, Bones?" "He'll pull through." "Jim, what about Spock?" "If we don't have that drug in 20 hours, he'll die." "Captain's Log, Stardate 6335.6." "The Huron has been left as space junk, its engines sabotaged." "Captain O'Shea has no idea who attacked his ship, but the intruder must be found and the precious cargo retrieved." "I've run the Huron's sensor tapes through the computer, sir." "The intruder ship is a new design, never before encountered by Federation shipping." "Can we track it?" "Yes, sir." "The intruder ship produces a unique trail of radioactive waste, now bearing 2-1-2 degrees mark 1-7-5." "Lay in that course, Sulu." "Ahead warp factor 7." "How is he, Bones?" "Not good, Jim." "I'll have to put a respirator on him to help him breathe soon." "We're following the intruder ship's trail." "We don't even know if it's the right one." "It's got to be." "What's the use of being a doctor, anyway?" "We're only as good as our drugs and technology make us." "Underneath all the tricks, I might as well be practising in the Middle Ages." "If you really believed that, Bones, you wouldn't still be a doctor after 25 years." "Report." "Radioactive residue still bearing 2-1-2 degrees mark 1-7-5." "lncrease speed to warp 8." "The trail goes through the asteroid belt, Captain." "A good place for an intruder to hide, wouldn't you say, Mr Sulu?" "Perfect." "And a long-range sensor can show that the radioactive residue stops in the middle of the belt." "Deflectors up." "Yellow Alert." "Cut speed to warp 1 ." "What was that?" "These asteroids are composed of a highly unstable mineral combination, sir." "They explode upon impact with each other." "Or anything else." "Keep those deflectors up, Mr Scott." "Captain, if the power of those rocks could be harnessed, they'd make a fantastic source of energy." "Also make quite a weapon." "Steady as she goes, Sulu." "Deflectors holding, sir." "Hard to port, Sulu." "Let's face them head-on." "Hold position." "Analysis, Mr Sulu?" "Standard phasers, sir." "Weak, though." "A diffused, low-quality beam." "Our deflectors can stop them." "I recognise the ship's markings, Captain." "lt's an Orion." "Orion." "They're hailing us, Captain." "Put it on visual, Lieutenant." "Enterprise, we demand that you cease your pursuit immediately." "I must protest, as a representative of a neutral planet." "This is Captain Kirk." "For a neutral, you were pretty quick to fire your phasers." "We couldn't be sure you were non-hostile." "Orion's neutrality has been in dispute ever since the affair regarding the Coridan planets and the Babel Conference of Stardate 3850.3." "Yesterday, a Federation freighter was attacked in this quadrant, its cargo hijacked." "As the first alien ship encountered, we require you to submit to search, as per Babel Resolution A-12." "Reply." "We have no Federation cargo aboard." "Orions are not thieves." "If you don't cease this harassment, we will lodge a formal protest with your government." "Hold on that, Uhura." "Tell them to stand by." "Sensors picking up the dilithium in their hold, sir." "What about the drug?" "If they have it, it's too small an amount to detect." "Uhura, open the channel." "Channel open, sir." "Enterprise to Orion vessel." "I have a proposal to make." "If you do have the Huron's cargo, there were some perishable drugs in it that we desperately need." "What would these drugs be worth to you if we had them?" "You keep the dilithium shipment, no mention of the whole incident to Starfleet or in my log, plus an additional galactic standard weight container of dilithium as payment for the drug." "We get what we want, plus our neutrality remains intact?" "We will consider your offer." "Very well." "Kirk out." "Kirk to Sickbay." "McCoy here." "Bones, how much time?" "Less than an hour, Jim." "His body functions are slipping fast now." "Just hold out a little longer." "The Orions are hailing us, sir." "Put it on the screen, Lieutenant." "Your proposal requires us to trust you." "It's obvious we can't." "Do you have a counterproposal?" "Yes." "A face-to-face exchange between you and me." "Face-to-face?" "Where?" "On the large asteroid near our ships." "We could beam down simultaneously, and I would hand you the drug myself." "You wouldn't even have to give us the extra dilithium crystals." "Now it's your turn to consider." "lt's got to be a trap, Jim." "No doubt of it, sir." "It could be a trap, but it's the only way to get the drug." "And Spock will die if we don't." "You've already made up your mind, haven't you, Jim?" "Yes, but not without precautions." "I'll keep my communicator channel open so you can hear what goes on." "Keep the transporter locked on me, and if anything goes wrong," "Scotty, I'm trusting you." "If this doesn't work, we could lose you and Spock." "If we don't try, Spock doesn't have a chance." "Status, Lieutenant?" "We can't outshoot the Enterprise, and we can't outrun it, sir." "You're saying we can't escape?" "No, sir, we can't." "Orion's official neutrality comes before this ship or its crew." "We can't take Kirk's word that he won't report this incident to Starfleet." "The only way to avoid that is to destroy the Enterprise, and the only way to do that is to destroy ourselves, too." "Do you have a plan, Lieutenant?" "Yes, sir." "These asteroids are made of highly explosive minerals." "Can we convert the asteroid we're orbiting into a doomsday bomb that will destroy both ships?" "Yes, sir, but..." "But what?" "Analysis of the asteroid shows that it can't be detonated by our phasers." "What will it take?" "A powerful explosive right on the asteroid's surface." "I could rig a remote control device." "No." "I'll take it with me when I beam down to meet Captain Kirk." "I want the satisfaction of seeing his face when I tell him he and his crew are going to die with us." "And I'm sure they don't trust us." "If Kirk and I are on the asteroid, the Enterprise will stay close by." "Very well, sir. I'll get to work." "Enterprise to Orion vessel." "What is your answer, Captain?" "l accept your terms." "Very well." "We will synchronise coordinates and beam down in 1 5 minutes." "Jim, we don't have a lot of time." "Spock..." "Fifteen minutes or not at all, Captain." "All right." "Kirk out." "The drug, as promised, Captain." "Scan it if you wish." "Pure strobolin." "I'll take that now and we can both beam up." "No, Captain, I can't trust that you won't report this incident to Starfleet." "If you do, my planet will lose its neutrality and be subject to Federation retaliation." "You can't escape the Enterprise." "But we can destroy it." "Picking up unusual sensor readings, Mr Scott." "What is it?" "There's dilithium down there with them, sir." "I have an explosive device in my backpack that will start a molecular chain reaction and detonate this asteroid." "Your ship will be destroyed." "But so will yours." "All unsuccessful Orion missions end in suicide." "The dilithium." "Transporter Room, pinpoint those crystals down there and beam them up!" "Pinpointed, Mr Scott." "Beam them up now, lad." "Scotty, energise!" "Captain, it was close." "Let's get up to the Bridge." "They're gone, sir." "Gone?" "I was scanning as you ordered, and they just disappeared off the asteroid." "Both the Earther and the captain." "He's been captured, no doubt." "Arm our self-destruct system, Ensign." "Open hailing frequencies, Uhura." "Grab him!" "Poison. I'm sure your ship is ready to self-destruct, Captain, but if it does, your crew will die for nothing." "We're not going to let you commit suicide." "Whether they die or not, you'll still stand trial, and Orion's little game of neutrality and piracy is over." "I have the Orion vessel, sir." "This is Captain Kirk." "We have your captain as prisoner." "Your choice, sir." "Disarm the self-destruct system." "Prepare to surrender to the Enterprise." "Captain's Log, Stardate 6336.2." "The Orion crew is in our brig, their ship in tow, and the Enterprise is back on course for Deneb V." "Spock, there's no way you can deny it." "Dr McCoy, I... I've waited a long time for this, and you're not going to cheat me." "Am I interrupting something?" "Nothing but Dr McCoy's gloating." "Spock, that green blood of yours may have saved you before, but this time it almost did you in." "You can't deny it." "I still prefer my physiological structure to yours." "Yes, gentlemen, things are back to normal." "He's as stubborn as ever."