Star Trek

Professor Robert Crater and his wife Nancy are archeologists, investigating the ruins of a civilization on M-113. Enterprise visits for the annual physical examination required by regulations, but the professor seems oddly reluctant. He insists all he and his wife need is salt to cope with the heat. Then Crewman Green dies, his face marked by odd red rings. Crater says he ate the borgia plant which contains toxic chemicals. But its symptoms do not include the red mottling. Kirk and Spock are determined to discover what's going on, and doubly so when a crewman on the ship dies the same way as Green.

A small ship, the Antares, transfers a passenger to Enterprise. He is Charles Evans, recently recovered from the lifeless planet Thasus, having survived there since he was marooned by the crash that killed his parents. Oddness seems to accompany Charlie. Antares calls, with a warning her captain does not finish delivering before his ship explodes. Soon enough it becomes clear that Charlie is a young man of extraordinary powers, able to cause things to happen merely by willing them to. Kirk must regain control of his ship from a troubled, dangerously powerful teenager.

Enterprise recovers the pitted and burned emergency buoy from the wreckage of Valiant which penetrated the odd energy barrier that surrounds the galaxy. Garbled recordings suggest odd consequences of that journey, and even that Valiant's own captain ordered her destruction. Enterprise also visits the barrier, and it has odd effects on certain members of the crew with high esper ratings. One in particular, Kirk's friend Gary Mitchell, appears to have developed nearly godlike mental and physical abilities, and lost his moral compass as well. Now Kirk must discover how to stop - and maybe kill - his old friend before that becomes impossible, and Mitchell goes on to conquer the Federation!
 

Psi-2000 is a lifeless, frozen world in the final stages of planetary disintegration, an invaluable opportunity for scientific study. But the enter scientific outpost complement is dead, apparently by violence. And soon enough, an odd intoxication of similar nature begins sweeping through Enterprise, threatening all of the crew and even the ship itself, as intoxicated crewmen lose all sense of duty and purpose. Worse, McCoy's investigations reveal no causative agent, limiting his ability to treat those affected.

An odd, yellowish ore with magnetic properties on a crewman's clothing affects the transporter, and when Kirk is subsequently beamed up, he is split into two "halves". One half of him possesses his benevolent qualities, but is indecisive. The other possesses his malevolent qualities, but is afraid. At first the crew is unaware of the problem, and Kirk's reputation suffers. Then they realize what has happened, and that the transporter is useless - just when they need to bring back the remaining planetary expedition before the sub-zero night kills them! And they must discover how to "reassemble" the captain when it becomes clear that neither half can survive for long without the other.

The Enterprise recovers Harcourt Fenton Mudd from within an asteroid belt. His crew is also his cargo - wives for settlers on Ophiuchus III. These women are very beautiful, and have oddly compulsive effects on the male crewmembers. Having burned out most of her dilithium crystals protecting Mudd's ship, Kirk detours to a Rigel mining colony to secure more. But Mudd's women secure a communicator for him, enabling him to strike his own deal with chief miner Ben Childress and his associates. To obtain the crystals, Kirk must bring down Mudd's women, and must agree to dismiss charges against Mudd. Added to the mix is that the women may not be all they appear to be...

Roger Korby, described as the "Pasteur of archaeological medicine" has built a reputation recovering the knowledge of dead alien civilizations, until five years ago when his entire expedition was lost on the frozen world Exo III. Or was it? When Enterprise assumes orbit, someone using Korby's voice responds to their hails. It seems Korby discovered that the civilization of Exo fled their ice age by going underground. He has uncovered some of their science, including their machinery for producing hardy androids - and for transferring a consciousness into such a machine. And he has plans for that technology. Ambitions, sinister plans...

Enterprise discovers a planet identical to Earth, with a very important exception: a few centuries earlier, a devasting plague struck. All of the adults were killed, but the children somehow survived - and still survive, hundreds of years later, feral and deeply distrustful of "grups". And there are monsters: insane, covered with scab-like plaques, they attack on sight. The disease is still active; the plaques appear on the landing party. If McCoy cannot discover a cure in the week they have left, all will die. Even Spock, now a carrier, cannot return to the ship.

Enterprise stops at the Tantalus penal colony to deliver drugs and collect research materials. Except that the research materials box contains a dangerous madman, Simon van Gelder - the former director of the colony. Kirk and psychiatrist Helen Noel beam down to speak with Tristan Adams, to learn what happened to van Gelder. It seems Dr. van Gelder was the victim of a new device, a neural neutralizer. But was what happened really an accident, or something more sinister?

Mapping star systems, Enterprise encounters an odd cube. Apparently solid, it senses the ship, moves to block it - and when Enterprise attempts to disengage, pursues while emitting dangerous radiation. Kirk is forced to order its destruction. He probes farther, to find the builders of the device. And he does, when the Fesarius appears. The immense flag ship of the First Federation and her captain, the enigmatic Balok, regard the destruction of the cube as an aggressive act, and determine that the crew will be imprisoned and the ship destroyed.

Spock diverts the Enterprise to Starbase 11, where Kirk discovers that Spock's former commander, Christopher Pike, has been seriously injured and disabled by exposure to delta rays, experienced while saving a class of cadets. Pike is now confined to an elaborate life support apparatus. Spock abducts Pike and locks the Enterprise on a course for Talos IV, the only planet subject to General Order 7: visiting the world is a capital crime. Spock refuses to explain his actions, but demands a court martial, during which he presents evidence of an earlier visit. War, thousands of centuries ago, devastated the planet, and it was only now becoming able to support life again. Its inhabitants, forced underground, had developed enormous mental powers, including the ability to place illusions within the minds of others. Their plan was to breed a race of slaves to help them reclaim their world, as they were fragile and their civilization degenerate: illusions had proved a kind of narcotic. To this end, they kidnapped Captain Pike years ago...

As the court martial continues, Kirk learns the Talosians meant to breed Pike with an earlier survivor, Vina, to produce their slave race. But Pike convinces them that Earthmen would prefer death to such slavery, however pleasant illusions could make it. Humans were the Talosians last chance, but Pike convinces them to release him. Finally, as they orbit Talos, Kirk learns why Spock violated General Order 7: here, in his illusory world, Pike can live out his remaining years as the man he once was. The Talosians agree to this, and the Federation suspends General Order 7 due to the circumstances.

Dr. Leighton calls Enterprise to his home on Planet Q with the promise of a new food source that could end hunger. But this is a ruse: Leighton is one of the few remaining survivors of Kodos the Executioner, who used a planetary famine to apply his own ideas of eugenics on Tarsus IV years earlier. A burned body convinced authorities that Kodos had died then, but Leighton is certain that actor Anton Karidian is Kodos. Kirk is less than amused at the deception - and then someone murders Leighton. It's not enough to accuse, but it is enough for suspicion, so Kirk arranges to strand the acting troupe, and then offers them a ride on Enterprise where he hopes to ascertain whether Leighton's accusation is true.

The Enterprise tries to intercept a Romulan warship that is testing the Federation's defenses along the Neutral Zone separating the two.

Enterprise visits an idyllic planet, where McCoy encounters a large white rabbit that is "very late". And shortly afterwards, a little girl who is following him. McCoy isn't becoming insane; it soon becomes apparent that thinking about a thing will cause it to materialize, as everyone encounters people and things from their past or their fantasies. But something on the planet's surface is draining power from Enterprise. And then McCoy, convinced that what he sees is a harmless illusion, confronts a charging knight - and dies, pierced through the heart! What kind of odd world is this, and how can the ship and crew escape it?

Enterprise is en route to the New Paris colony to deliver much needed medical supplies, needed to counter a plague. It passes Murasaki 312, a quasar-like system. Since there is time, Kirk's standing orders require him to dispatch a scientific team to study the phenomenon. The expedition immediately runs into trouble, pulled of course and forced to an emergency landing on Taurus II, then beset by the hulking, homicidal natives of that planet. Can Spock's purely logical approach to leadership save the expedition and reunite its members with Enterprise?

Within a "star desert" the crew encounter the odd, storm-wracked planet Gothos. Then Kirk and Sulu disappear from the bridge. The planet's sole inhabitant is the foppish Trelane, who lives in a manor house be believes represents modern Earth, but which is actually centuries out of date. He has plans for the crew, and the power to ensure that he gets what he wants. Kirk manages to thwart him, but it's only temporary: Trelane moves Gothos itself to intercept the fleeing starship! Against that kind of power, Kirk will need all his wits...

Enterprise stops at Cestus III, there to visit Commodore Travers, who enthusiastically invites Kirk to bring his key people to the surface. Beaming down, Kirk discovers the outpost has been destroyed! The landing party comes under attack, but Kirk and Spock recover a powerful ballistic weapon and strike back. The aliens flee, with Enterprise in hot pursuit, into an unknown region of space. There, both ships are paralyzed by an "unidentifiable power" from the distant star system of the Metrons, and both captains are transported to a world where they may engage in hand to hand combat to determine the fate of their respective ships. But is that the whole story?

A "black star" slingshots Enterprise back in time, to the 1960s, in Earth orbit. She appears almost directly above a military base, which draws all sorts of unwelcome attention. The base dispatches Major John Christopher to look. Enterprise attempts to keep him at bay with the tractor beam, but his aircraft is too fragile to withstand the beam and disintegrates, forcing Enterprise to beam Christopher aboard. Now they have disrupted history. Christopher himself is not historically significant, but his son is. He must be returned, but how?

Enterprise encounters an ion storm, which requires an observer in the ion pod. Top of the duty roster is Commander Ben Finney, who is tragically lost when Kirk must eject the pod as part of the Red Alert protocol. At the starbase, Commodore Stone discovers that the computer records tell a different story: that Kirk ejected the ion pod during Yellow Alert, and that if he had waited properly, Finney might still be alive. He offers Kirk a chance to resign his commission "for the good of the service", but Kirk refuses - and so draws a general court martial. His advocate? The quirky Samuel Cogley, who eschews his computer in favor of books.

Six thousand years ago, the planet Beta III was torn apart by war, crime, and corruption. Then a visionary leader arose, Landru, who became a benevolent autocrat. He has maintained a simple, stable society that has survived since then without those "ancient evils". Enterprise is there to investigate the disappearance of the starship Archon in the vicinity a century earlier. It seems that Landru dislikes those who display individuality; they must be absorbed into "The Body" or destroyed. So it was with the "Archons" and so it will be with the Enterprise unless Kirk can defeat Landru. But will unseating him destabilize the society? Will it be a violation of the Prime Directive?

The Enterprise chances across a DY-100 class ship, launched from Earth "in the 1990s". It carries around seventy people, who have been hibernating since their launch. The ship's systems revive the leader, whom Kirk soon learns is Khan Noonien Singh, the leader of a group of genetically enhanced "supermen" who nearly took control of Earth during the Eugenics Wars. They have essentially fled to the future, and with their capabilities, Khan plans to revive his campaign to place "superior" men in positions of leadership.

Kirk and the Enterprise have been sent to establish diplomatic relations with the planet Eminiar VII, a planet that decidedly does not wish such relations! But Ambassador Fox insists they make the attempt. Planetside, they learn Eminiar has been fighting a war with Vendikar, another planet in the same system, for five hundred years - a war fought entirely by computers, with casualties required to report to disintegration machines for tidy disposal. And the Enterprise has been declared a casualty of a "tricobalt satellite explosion"; her crew must likewise report for disintegration so their deaths may be recorded and reported to Vendikar.

The Federation established a colony on Omicron Ceti III before it knew that the system's star emitted Berthold Rays, which degrade animal tissue. Tolerable for short periods with precautions, these rays spelled doom for the colony. So how are they still alive, and in better health than when they left Federation space? And perhaps more importantly, why have they accomplished... nothing? The answer threatens the Enterprise...

Miners on the mineral rich world of Janus II have begun to die horribly, burned to a crisp by the effects of a powerful corrosive. The Federation depends on these mines to supply minerals to many other worlds, so it sends Kirk and the Enterprise to investigate. But a starship, as one miner acerbically comments, cannot enter the mining tunnels. Kirk and Spock will have to use their wits to solve this problem. And they'll have to do it quickly, since the same agency has sabotaged the antique pergium reactor that maintains life support.

Kirk and Spock transport to the planet Organia, a pastoral realm of very low technology, which has the misfortune of being strategically important to the Klingons, who plan to use Organia as a forward base when they war on the Federation. Despite Kirk's best efforts, he cannot seem to impress upon the Organians that they are in dire peril and should ally with the Federation. Then the Klingons arrive, and being imposing martial law, and taking and executing hostages. Kirk works behind the scenes to interfere, but when the Organians betray him to the Klingons, he starts to wonder if they are worth protecting.

An alien named Lazarus is somehow responsible for a kind of "winking out" effect - all of reality seems on the verge of collapse. He is fleeing a monster whose intent is nothing less than the destruction of reality. But through a mishap, Kirk is transported to the home of that monster. And he looks exactly like Lazarus! Kirk must decide which of them - if either - is the monster. If he guesses wrong, it's the end of everything.

Ripples in time have provoked the curiosity of the Enterprise crew. One such ripple shakes the ship and gravely injures Sulu. McCoy brings him back from the brink with a powerful drug, but another ripple results in a tragic overdose, afflicting McCoy with dangerous paranoia! He beams down to the planet - the transporter was locked onto the source of the time disturbances. On the surface, he evades the landing party long enough to flee - into the past, where his psychosis results in him somehow erasing the Federation, and the Enterprise, save only the landing party. Their one chance is to use the same artifact - the self-styled Guardian of Forever - to arrive before McCoy and prevent him from changing their history.

Approaching the planet Deneva, the Enterprise encounters a private spacecraft whose pilot is flying desperately into the sun, the apparent act of a lunatic. Spock reveals disturbing news: a pattern of mass insanity that has spread across the galaxy in a nearly straight line, the current end of which is Deneva. The landing party discovers the horrifying truth - and one of them becomes its victim. Now the crew must devise a cure before Spock dies, or is driven hopelessly insane.