(Kirk, McCoy, Chekov and a security guard have beamed down to a planet with a green sky and occasional outcrops of vertical rocks. Their phasers are drawn.)
KIRK: Report, Mister Chekov.
CHEKOV: Full scan. Results negative. Radiation level normal. Atmosphere and terrain are undisturbed. No evidence of a colony nor any residual aftereffect of a force that might have annihilated it.
KIRK: Life readings, Doctor McCoy?
MCCOY: Nothing. They said they were being attacked by an unidentified ship.
CHEKOV: Which we were unable to detect upon approach.
KIRK: An entire human colony, a whole settlement. One hundred men, women and children. Who did it? And why? (communicator beep) Kirk here.
SPOCK [OC]: Spock here, Captain.

[Bridge]

SPOCK: Sensors have picked up a Klingon ship, closing fast.
KIRK [OC]: Deflectors on. Condition Red. Protect yourselves.

[Planet surface]

KIRK: Total reply if attacked. So that's the answer. Klingons.

[Bridge]

SULU: Trouble aboard the Klingon ship. Evidence of explosions, massive destruction.

[Planet surface]

(Five furious Klingons beam down.)
SPOCK [OC]: Captain, the enemy ship is drifting, totally disabled.

[Bridge]

SPOCK: And we never fired upon her.

[Planet surface]

KIRK: Maintain Red Alert.
(The Klingons arrive, and their leader hits Kirk with his disruptor, knocking him down.)
KANG: You attacked my ship! Four hundred of my crew dead. Kirk, my ship is disabled. I claim yours. You are now prisoners of the Klingon Empire against which you have committed a wanton act of war!
(And a weird swirl of light hangs in the air a little way away. The Federation landing party are disarmed.)
KANG: For three years, the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been at peace. A treaty we have honoured to the letter.
KIRK: We took no action against your ship, Kang.
KANG: Were the screams of my crew imaginary? What were your orders, Kirk? To start a war? You've succeeded. To test a new weapon? We shall be happy to examine it.
KIRK: There was a Federation colony on this planet. It was destroyed.
KANG: By what? No bodies, no ruins. A colony of the invisible?
KIRK: Yes, a test of a new Klingon weapon, leaving no traces. Federation ships don't specialise in sneak attacks.
KANG: We have wondered when you would begin. You lured my ship into ambush by a false Klingon distress call. You will tell us why with the proper persuasion.
KIRK: You received a distress call? We received a distress call.
KANG: I don't propose to spend the rest of my life on this ball of dust arguing your fantasies. The Enterprise is mine! Instruct your transporter room to beam us aboard.
KIRK: Go to the devil.
KANG: We have no devil, Kirk. But we understand the habits of yours. I shall torture you to death one by one until your noble captain cries enough. Who will be first?
CHEKOV: Cossacks! Filthy Klingon murderers! You killed my brother Piotre. The Archanis Four research outpost. A hundred peaceful people massacred! Just like you did here. My brother, you killed my brother.
KANG: And you volunteer to join him. That is loyalty.
(A Klingon places an agoniser on Chekov's face, and he screams. Kirk is held back.)
KIRK: Chekov! Stop the torture!
MCCOY: Jim, you can't hand over the Enterprise.
KIRK: Help Chekov.
KANG: Don't plan any tricks, Kirk. I will kill one hundred hostages at the first sign of treachery.
KIRK: I'll beam you aboard the Enterprise. Once there, no tricks.
(Kang gives him a communicator.)
CHEKOV: Captain, you can't. Don't let these animals have the ship.
MCCOY: Move aside. (he tends to Chekov)
KANG: Animals? Your captain crawls like one. A Klingon would never have surrendered. Order everybody in this area to be transported up. All weapons on him.
KIRK: Kirk to Enterprise. Mister Spock.
SPOCK [OC]: Here, Captain.
KIRK: Mister Spock, we have guests. Adjust transporter to wide field. Beam up everyone in the target area. (and presses a button)

[Bridge]

(An amber light flashes by the Captain's chair.)
SPOCK: Understood, Captain. Transporter room.
(The group is beamed up, and the weird light follows.)

[Transporter room]

(Just the four Federation people materialise on the pads.)
KIRK: Full security, Johnson, on the double.
(The security guard runs off, Spock enters.)
KIRK: Good work, Spock.
MCCOY: What happened?
SPOCK: Our landing party is intact, Doctor.
SCOTT: All others suspended in transit. Who are the guests, by the way?
KIRK: Klingons.
SCOTT: Well, they're right in here.
KIRK: Johnson?
JOHNSON: Security on the way, sir.
CHEKOV: Captain, leave them where they are. Non-existence. That's so many less Klingon monsters in the galaxy.
(Two more security guards arrive.)
KIRK: Bring them in.
(The Klingons materialise, and are quickly disarmed.)
JOHNSON: Move 'em out. Move!
KANG: Liar!
KIRK: I said no tricks after we reach the ship. You're a prisoner of the Federation of Planets against which you may or may not have committed an act of war.
KANG: There are still survivors aboard my ship.
SCOTT: Captain, we've not been able to get through to Starfleet Command. All subspace frequencies have been blocked, and there's too much radiation coming from that Klingon ship. It's a hazard to the vicinity.
KIRK: Prepare to destruct.
KANG: Completing the job you started?
KIRK: You wouldn't be standing here if I had.
SPOCK: First group from the Klingon vessel, Captain.
(Six Klingons including two women materialise. They are hustled away except one.)
KANG: My wife, Mara, and my science officer.
MARA: Kang, what has happened?
KANG: More Federation treachery. We are prisoners.
MARA: What will they do to us? I've heard of their atrocities, their death camps. They will torture us for our scientific and military information.
KIRK: Apparently you have a few things to learn about us. Detain them in the crew lounge. Programme the food synthesiser to accommodate our guests. You'll be well-treated, Kang.
KANG: So I have seen.
(Kang and Mara are led away.)
KIRK: Secure from Red Alert.

[Corridor]

(The weird light hides as Kirk and Spock leave the transporter room)
KIRK: But maintain general quarters. Scan this sector for other ships. Run a full check on the colony. I want this thing nailed down fast.
CHEKOV: We know what happened. That distress call.
SPOCK: At the moment we received the distress signal from the colony on Beta Twelve A, the Klingons were too far distant to have been the attackers. Moreover, they also were apparently attracted by a distress call.

[Turbolift]

CHEKOV: Lies. They want to start a war by pretending that we did.
MCCOY: Chekov may be right. The Klingons claim to have honoured the truce, but there have been incidents, raids on our outposts.
KIRK: No proof that Klingons committed it.
MCCOY: What proof do we need? We know what a Klingon is.
(Leaves the turbolift.)
SPOCK: Our log tapes will indicate our innocence in the present situation.
KIRK: Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that they will be believed.

[Bridge]

KIRK: Report.
UHURA: Still no contact with Starfleet Command, sir. Outside communications blanketed.
KIRK: Keep trying. We've got a diplomatic tiger by the tail.
SCOTT [OC]: Transporter room to Bridge. Klingon ship is vacated, sir.
KIRK: Very good, Scotty. Mister Sulu?
SULU: Forward phasers locked and ready to fire, sir.
KIRK: Fire phasers.
(The Klingon ship is vapourised.)
SPOCK: Sensor sweeps reveal no other ships within range, Captain.
KIRK: Lieutenant Uhura?
UHURA: No contact with Starfleet as yet, sir.
KIRK: Mister Sulu, change course to seventeen mark four, warp factor three.
SULU: Warp factor three, sir.

[Crew Lounge]

KANG: When I take this ship, I'll have Kirk's head stuffed and hung on his cabin wall.
MARA: They will kill us before we can act.
KANG: No, they wish to question us, learn our strength, our plans. They never will.
MARA: We are forty against four hundred.
KLINGON: Four thousand throats may be cut in one night by a running man.
KANG: Patience. Vigilance. They will make a mistake. Capture of the Enterprise will give us knowledge to end this war quickly.

[Bridge]

(The weird light from the planet is up near the ceiling.)
UHURA: (losing her temper) Captain! This doesn't make sense. Carriers are normal. Channels are open. There's still no outside contact! I don't understand it, sir. Could the Klingons be doing something?
(Then the ship shudders as if from an explosion, and changes course.)
KIRK: Sulu?
SULU: Change in course. Accelerating. Helm dead. Auxiliary navigation dead.
KIRK: Override.
SULU: Nothing responds, Captain.
KIRK: Scotty, stop all engines.
SCOTT [OC]: I would if I could, sir.

[Engineering]

SCOTT: The controls have gone crazy. Something's taken over.

[Bridge]

KIRK: Scotty!
SCOTT [OC]: The engines, sir.

[Engineering]

SCOTT: They've gone to warp nine, by themselves!

[Bridge]

KIRK: New course?
SULU: Nine oh two mark five.
KIRK: That'll take us out of the galaxy.
UHURA: Captain, reports coming in from the lower decks. Emergency bulkheads have closed. Almost four hundred crewmen are trapped down there, sir.

[Crew Lounge]

KANG: Most interesting. The bulk of your crew trapped, your ship racing from this galaxy at wild speeds. Delightful. How did I perform this sabotage, Kirk? All my men are here.
KIRK: Johnson. Get down to Security. Search every section. Some Klingons may have beamed aboard undetected from the wrecked ship. Then get down to Engineering and help Scotty hammer things back to normal. And free those trapped crewmen. (to Kang) And before I put you in the brig, there's a little something I owe you.
(He punches Kang. A solitaire set on a table changes into a short sword which Kang picks up. A potted plant and 3D chess set become swords.)
KIRK: Phasers.
(But they turn into swords too. There's a stunned pause then a brief fight as the Starfleet group get out of the room.)
KIRK: Out!

[Corridor]

BALD KLINGON: Stand and fight, you cowards.
(Another brief skirmish and Johnson gets stabbed. They make it into the turbolift.)
KIRK: Sickbay.
(The security men carry their comrade out.)
KIRK: Bridge.

[Bridge]

KIRK: The Klingons are free. They're armed as we are. They'll try to take the ship. Scotty, how many men do we have?
SCOTT [OC]: Three hundred and ninety two trapped below decks.
KIRK: Deploy forces to protect your section and the auxiliary control centre.

[Engineering]

KIRK [OC]: Check the armoury, and try and free those trapped crewmen.
SCOTT: The doors and bulkheads won't budge. We'll have to cut through.

[Bridge]

KIRK: Blow out the bulkheads if you have to. We need numbers. What kind of luck have you had controlling the ship's speed?

[Engineering]

SCOTT: No, sir. She's a projectile at warp nine. And don't ask me what's holding her together.
KIRK [OC]: Five-minute report. Kirk out.

[Bridge]

KIRK: Full sensor scan of the ship. Report on any movement by the Klingons. The Klingon Empire has maintained a duelling tradition. They think they can beat us with swords.
SPOCK: Captain, neither the Klingon technology nor ours, is capable of this. The instantaneous transmutation of matter. I doubt that they are responsible.
KIRK: Any other logical candidate?
SPOCK: None. However, if they had such power, would they not have used it to create more effective weapons and only for themselves?
KIRK: Mister Sulu. Get below. Take command of Engineering and auxiliary control.
SULU: Aye, sir.
(Sulu leaves.)
CHEKOV: Captain. (he has a sword too)
KIRK: Mister Chekov.
CHEKOV: Captain! (gets up to go with Sulu)
KIRK: Mister Chekov, as you were. Chekov!
CHEKOV: Sir, let me go too. I've got a personal score to settle with the Klingons.
KIRK: This is no time for a vendetta. Maintain your post.
CHEKOV: Captain!
KIRK: Chekov, maintain your post!
CHEKOV: Don't try to stop me, Captain. I saw what they left of Piotre, and I swore on his grave I would avenge his murder.
(Chekov dashes into the turbolift.)
SULU: What's Chekov's grudge against the Klingons? Who's Piotre?
KIRK: His only brother, killed in a Klingon raid.
SULU: His brother? He never had a brother. He's an only child.
KIRK: Sulu, get down to Engineering.
SULU: Aye, sir.
(Sulu leaves)
KIRK: Security, this is the captain. Find Mister Chekov and bring him to the bridge.
UHURA: Captain, why would, why would Chekov believe he has a brother?
KIRK: I don't know, but he does. And now he wants revenge for a non-existent loss.

[Sickbay]

(McCoy finishes bandaging Johnson.)
MCCOY: There. Those filthy butchers. There are rules, even in war. You don't keep hacking at a man after he's down. Hand me that numanol capsule.
(There's a man with a head wound in another bed, and a security guard is brought in too.)

[Science Lab]

(The Klingons access ship's schematics on a desk monitor)
KLINGON: Layout and specifications of the Enterprise, Commander.
MARA: Enemy numbers are the same as ours. We have a fighting balance.
KANG: Then we take the ship.
KLINGON: A ship that is headed towards the end of the galaxy?
KANG: In time, in time. We must take these sections. First, Engineering.

[Armoury]

KIRK [OC]: Kirk here.
SCOTT: Scott here, sir. There's no use trying to free those men down below. The phaser torches, they won't cut through the bulkheads, nor the doors, nor the decks. There's something happened to the metal.
KIRK [OC]: What about the armoury?
SCOTT: I'm there now, sir, and you never saw such a fine collection of antiques in your life.
(We pull back to see racks of swords, billhooks, pikes.)

[Bridge]

KIRK: Get back to Engineering. Try to re-establish engine control, and talk to ordnance about manufacturing phaser replacements.

[Armoury]

SCOTT: Aye, sir. (spots a special sword amongst the ordinary ones.) A Claymore. You're a beauty.

[Bridge]

KIRK: What the blazes is going on?
SPOCK: Scans indicate that our forces and those of the Klingons are exactly equal at thirty eight each. The Klingons control deck six and starboard deck seven, while we control all sections above.
KIRK: Constant surveillance, Mister Spock.
SPOCK: Most curious, Captain. There appear to be more life-energy units on board than can be accounted for by the presence of the Enterprise crew plus the Klingons. A considerable discrepancy.
KIRK: Could more Klingons have beamed aboard?
SPOCK: I shall attempt a compensatory reading of Klingon units.

[ Corridor outside Engineering]

(Inside Engineering, the weird light seems to be bigger. Scott climbs up an access ladder to the corridor.)
SCOTT: Any signs of those devils, Mister Sulu?
SULU: All clear, Mister Scott.

[Engineering]

(Scott is talking to some engineers when they are jumped by Klingons. He backs out into the corridor where Sulu karate chops Scott's attacker.)

[Corridor outside Engineering]

SCOTT: They've taken Engineering. I don't know how many more of those Klingons are around, but we'll split up here and try to make it back to the bridge.
SULU: Aye.

[Engineering]

(Kang and Mara come in to receive the praise of their crew.)
ALL: Victory! Victory!

[Bridge]

SPOCK: No additional Klingons detected, Captain. It is an alien life force, a single entity. I cannot ascertain its location.
KIRK: An alien life force. We must make contact, find out what it wants.
SPOCK: Readings being diverted to the library computer for analysis. Computer report.
COMPUTER: Alien life force onboard is composed of pure energy. Type unknown. Actions indicate intelligence and purpose.
SPOCK: What purpose?
COMPUTER: Insufficient data for further analysis.
KIRK: A brother that never existed, a phantom colony, imaginary distress calls, the creation of these weapons. Do you sense a pattern, Mister Spock?
SPOCK: If the alien is creating these events, Captain, it is apparently capable of manipulating matter and mind.
KIRK: And now it has control of the Enterprise and taking us out of the galaxy. But why?
SPOCK: Captain, I am constrained to point out that since minds are evidently being influenced, we cannot know at this moment whether our own memories are completely accurate and true.
KIRK: We must talk to Kang, bury the hatchet.
SPOCK: An appropriate choice of terms. However, it is notoriously difficult to arrange a truce with the Klingons once blood has been drawn.
MCCOY: Truce? Are you serious? I've got men in Sickbay, some of them dying. Atrocities committed on their persons, and you talk about making peace with these fiends? If our backs were turned, they'd jump us in a minute. And you know what Klingons do to prisoners. Slave labour, death planets, experiments!
KIRK: McCoy?
MCCOY: While you're talking, they're planning attacks. This is a fight to the death. We'd better start trying to win it!
SPOCK: We are attempting to end it, Doctor. By reason, preferably. There is an alien on board which may have created this situation.
MCCOY: Who cares what started it, Mister Spock. We're in it! Murderers. We should wipe out every one of them!
KIRK: The alien is the real threat. That's the enemy we have to wipe out.
UHURA: Sickbay calling, Doctor. There are more wounded men requiring your attention.
MCCOY: How many more men must die before you two begin to act like military men instead of fools? (leaves)
(The intercom whistles.)

[Engineering]

KIRK [OC]: Kirk here.
KANG: This is Kang.

[Bridge]

KIRK: Kang, there's something important I must discuss with you.
KANG [OC]: I have captured your engineering section. I now control this ship's power and life-support systems.

[Engineering]

KANG [OC]: I have deprived all areas except our own. You will die of suffocation in the icy cold of space.

[Bridge]

(The power has gone off.)
KIRK: (dictating into PADD) The Enterprise is heading out of our galaxy, controlled by a mysterious alien somewhere aboard the ship. Engineering has been taken over by Klingons who have cut off life-support systems. Mister Sulu.
SULU: Captain.
KIRK: Get down to emergency manual control. Try to protect our life-support circuits and auxiliary power.
SULU: Aye, Captain.
(Sulu leaves as Scott arrives.)
SCOTT: Sir. Chekov was right, Captain.
KIRK: Scotty, I'm glad you've come.
SCOTT: We should have left those fuzz-faced goons in the transporter. That's right where they belong!
KIRK: Scotty?
SCOTT: Non-existence! Now they can study the Enterprise, add our technology to theirs, change the balance of power. You've jeopardised the Federation!
KIRK: Scotty, take it easy.
SPOCK: Easy, Mister Scott.
SCOTT: Keep your Vulcan hands off me. Just keep away! Your feelings might be hurt, you green-blooded half-breed!
SPOCK: May I say that I have not thoroughly enjoyed serving with humans? I find their illogic and foolish emotions a constant irritant.
SCOTT: Then transfer out, freak!
KIRK: Gentlemen! (intervenes as they nearly come to blows.) Spock! Scotty. Spock. Spock! Stop it! You're half human! What are we saying? What are we doing to each other?
SPOCK: Fascinating. The result of stress?
KIRK: We've been under stress before. It's never set us at each other's throats.
SCOTT: But this is war.
KIRK: There isn't any war! Or is there?
SCOTT: Have we forgotten how to defend ourselves?
KIRK: Scotty. What's happening to us? We've been trained to think in other terms than war. We've been trained to fight its causes, if necessary. Then why are we behaving like a group of savages? Look at me. Look at me. Two forces aboard this ship, each of them equally armed. Has a war been staged for us, complete with weapons and ideology and patriotic drum beating? Even, Spock, even race hatred?
SPOCK: Recent events would seem to be directed toward a magnification of the basic hostilities between humans and Klingons. Apparently, it is by design that we fight. We seem to be pawns.
KIRK: But what's the game? And whose? And what are the rules?
SPOCK: It is most urgent that we locate the alien entity immediately, and determine its motives and a method for halting its activities.
SCOTT: Without sensors? All our power down? This thing could go anywhere.
KIRK: Yes. Mister Sulu, report.
SULU [OC]: No good, Captain.

[Jefferies tube]

SULU: Circuits are in, but systems just aren't responding.
(Then the lights come back on.)

[Bridge]

KIRK: We're getting something.

[Jefferies tube]

SULU: Aye, Captain. Power and life-support restored. Remotes on standby.
KIRK [OC]: Good work.
SCOTT: But, Captain, I didn't do it. Everything just came on by itself.

[Engineering]

MARA: Their life-support systems have resumed.

[Bridge]

SPOCK: Sensors may be operating.
KIRK: Start scanning. Let's find that alien.

[Engineering]

MARA: Holding steady.
KANG: Cause them to be unsteady.
MARA: They appear to be controlled from another location. Also unable to affect ship's course for return to our empire.
KANG: One of Kirk's tricks. Could he bypass this circuit? What power is it that supports our battle yet starves our victory? Power. Interrupt it at their main life-support couplings. Where?
MARA: Number six deck. (to Klingon) Come.

[Bridge]

SPOCK: Alien detected in the engineering section, near reactor number three.
KIRK: Let's go.
(Kirk and Spock, armed with swords, leave the bridge.)

[Corridor]

(The weird light hides as Chekov comes along. He hides, then kills the Klingon and takes Mara prisoner.)
CHEKOV: You don't die yet. You're not human, but you're very beautiful. Very beautiful.
(He rips her top, covers her mouth and I'll leave his intentions to your imaginations. Kirk comes along in the nick of time.)
KIRK: Chekov!
(He hauls him off Mara and slaps him twice, knocking him out.)
SPOCK: Jim, he's not responsible.
KIRK: What have I done? (to Mara) There's an alien entity aboard the ship. It's forcing us to fight. We don't want to. We don't know what its motive is. We're trying to find out. You must help us. Take me to Kang. A temporary truce, that's all I ask. Spock, take her.
(Spock and Mara leave)
KIRK: Chekov. Chekov. (picks him up) Is this what's in store for us, from here on in? Violence, hatred.

[Sickbay]

(It's very busy. Kirk carries in Chekov, followed by Spock and Mara.)
MCCOY: Brain waves show almost paranoid mania. What happened?
KIRK: He lost control. So did I. We're becoming animal warriors. Let's go, Spock.
MCCOY: Orderly. Jim. Johnson's heart wound is almost healed. Same with the other casualties. Sword wounds in the vital organs, massive trauma, shock. They're all healing at a fantastic rate.
SPOCK: It would appear that the entity wants us alive.
KIRK: Why? So we can fight, and fight, and keep coming back for more like some bloody coliseum? What's next, the roar of crowds?
SPOCK: Perhaps human and Klingon psychologies and combat capabilities are being tested by an alien with designs on both powers.
MCCOY: Gentlemen, if we are pawns, you're looking at one who is extremely sorry.
SPOCK: I understand, Doctor. I, too, felt a brief surge of racial bigotry. Most distasteful.
KIRK: Let's find the alien. (to Mara) You come with us. Maybe we can prove to you that it exists.

[Corridor]

(The weird light is up ahead of them and glowing red.)
KIRK: What is it?
SPOCK: Totally unfamiliar.
KIRK: What do you want? What are you doing here?
JOHNSON: Reporting for duty, sir.
KIRK: Duty? Did McCoy release you from Sickbay?
JOHNSON: I released myself.
KIRK: Then get back to Sickbay!
JOHNSON: Not on your life, sir. I'm fit and ready for action. The Klingons almost did me in once. I'm out to even the score.
KIRK: I order you
JOHNSON: I've got my orders. I'm obeying orders! Kill the Klingons! It's them or us, isn't it?
KIRK: Johnson!
(They cross swords, but Spock neck-pinches Johnson.)
(The light becomes yellow.)
SPOCK: Fascinating. During Lieutenant Johnson's emotional outburst, his expression of hatred and lust for vengeance, the alien's life energy level increased. When the Lieutenant became unconscious, the alien lost energy.
KIRK: It subsists on the emotions of others.
SPOCK: This one appears to be strengthened by mental irradiations of hostility, violent intentions.
KIRK: It exists on the hate of others.
SPOCK: To put it simply. And it has acted as a catalyst, creating this situation in order to satisfy that need. It has brought together opposing forces, provided crude instruments in an effort to promote the most violent mode of conflict.
KIRK: And kept numbers and resources balanced, so that it can maintain a constant state of violence. It's got to have a vulnerable area. We've got to get rid of it.
SPOCK: Then all hostile attitudes on board must be eliminated. The fighting must end and soon.
KIRK: Or we're a doomed ship, travelling forever between galaxies, filled with eternal bloodlust, eternal warfare. Kang has got to listen. We've got to pool our knowledge and get rid of this thing. (goes to intercom) Kang. Kang, this is Captain Kirk.

[Engineering]

KIRK [OC]: Kang, do you read me?

[Corridor]

MARA: Commander, it's a trick!
KIRK: Kang. (switches off intercom) He won't answer.
SPOCK: The alien is affecting his mind, Captain. Soon, it will become so powerful that none of us will be able to resist it.
SCOTT [OC]: Scotty, sir.

[Bridge]

SCOTT: The ship's dilithium crystals are deteriorating. We can't stop the process.

[Corridor]

KIRK: Time factor?
SCOTT [OC]: In twelve minutes, we'll be totally without engine power.
KIRK: Well, do whatever you can. Kirk out.
(The weird light floats off through a bulkhead)
KIRK: And so we drift in space, with only hatred and bloodshed aboard. Now do you believe?

Captain's log, stardate Armageddon. We must find a way to defeat the alien force of hate that has taken over the Enterprise. Stop the war now, or spend eternity in futile bloody violence.

[Bridge]

SCOTT: There's no change, Captain. The dilithium crystals are discharging.
SPOCK: There's nothing we can do about it.
KIRK: If I could talk to Kang, somehow cut through the Klingon lines, make peace before it's too late.
SPOCK: We have nine minutes, fifty three seconds to power zero.
SPOCK: There is, of course, a logical alternative. Kang's wife is, after all, our prisoner. Perhaps a threat.
SCOTT: Aye. Now that's something the Klingons would understand.
KIRK: Kang! Kang, this is Captain Kirk.

[Engineering]

KIRK [OC]: I know you can hear me, so don't cut me off. We have Mara, your wife. We talk truce now, or she dies. Reply.

[Bridge]

KIRK: She has five seconds to live. Reply.

[Engineering]

KANG: She is a victim of war, Captain.

[Bridge]

KANG [OC]: She understands.
KIRK: He called my bluff.
MARA: You're not going
KIRK: The Federation doesn't kill or mistreat its prisoners. You've been listening to propaganda, fables. How much time?
SPOCK: Eight minutes, forty two seconds.
MARA: So this was no trick?
SCOTT: It's the alien that's done this. We're in its power, our people and yours.
KIRK: We only wanted to stop the fighting to save us all.
MARA: We have always fought. We must. We are hunters, Captain, tracking and taking what we need. There are poor planets in the Klingon systems, we must push outward if we are to survive.
KIRK: There's another way to survive. Mutual trust and help.
MARA: I will help you now.
KIRK: How?
MARA: I will take you to Kang. I will add my voice to yours.
SCOTT: I wouldn't trust her, Captain.
KIRK: We can't get through the Klingon defences in time, unless. Spock. Intra-ship beaming from one section to another. It's possible?
SPOCK: It has rarely been done because of the danger involved. Pinpoint accuracy is required. If the transportee should materialise inside a solid object, a deck or wall.
SCOTT: Even if it could work, she may be leading you into a trap.
KIRK: We're all in a trap. This is the only way out.
SCOTT: We'll go with you.
KIRK: No. That'd start the final battle. I believe her. Prepare the transporter. We'll wait for your signal.
(Kirk and Mara leave.)
SCOTT: But she can't guarantee that Kang will stop to listen, right, Mister Spock?
SPOCK: No one can guarantee the actions of another.

[Transporter room]

SPOCK [OC]: Your automatic setting is laid in, Captain.

[Bridge]

SPOCK: When transporter is energised, you will have eight seconds to get to the pads.

[Transporter room]

KIRK: I hope your computations are correct, Mister Spock.
SPOCK [OC]: You'll know in seven point nine seconds, Captain.
(They dash to the pads, then Kirk returns to the console to leave his cutlass behind.)

[Engineering]

(Kirk and Mara beam in.)
KANG: Mara, you're alive, and you bring us a prize.
MARA: Kang, wait. He's come alone, unarmed. He must talk to you.
KANG: Brave captain, what about?
MARA: No! Listen to him. We are all in danger.
(The weird light is glowing blood red.)
KIRK: Mara. Before you start killing, give me one minute.
(Kang swings his sword at Kirk's head, and Mara intervenes.)
MARA: Kang, don't!
KANG: What have they done to you, Mara? Are you out of your mind? What have they done to you? (sees the torn tunic) I see why the human beast did not kill you.
MARA: They didn't harm me. Listen to him.
(Kang pushes her aside, so she throws Kirk a sword. The two leaders have an old-fashioned sword fight.) Stop! Stop, please!
KANG: With your death, we win.
KIRK: Nobody wins. Have any more of your men died? We can't be killed. There's an alien aboard. It wants us alive.
KANG: No doubt you will reassemble after I have hacked you to bits!
MARA: You fool.
(A contingent of Federation including McCoy and Spock take on the rest of the Klingons in the corridor. Spock cheats with his neck-pinch. Finally Kirk gets the point of his sword at Kang's throat.)
KIRK: Look! Look, Kang. For the rest of our lives. A thousand lifetimes. Senseless violence, fighting, while an alien has total control over us.
(Kirk throws away his sword.)
KIRK: All right. All right. In the heart. In the head. I won't stay dead. Next time I'll do the same to you. I'll kill you. And it goes on, the good old game of war, pawn against pawn! Stopping the bad guys. While somewhere, something sits back and laughs and starts it all over again.
MCCOY: Let's jump him.
SPOCK: Those who hate and fight must stop themselves, Doctor. Otherwise, it is not stopped.
MARA: Kang, I am your wife. I'm a Klingon. Would I lie for them? Listen to Kirk. He is telling the truth.
KIRK: Be a pawn, be a toy, be a good soldier that never questions orders.
(Kang looks at the weird light, then throws down his sword.)
KANG: Klingons kill for their own purposes.
SPOCK: All fighting must end, Captain, to weaken the alien before our dilithium crystals are gone.
KIRK: Lieutenant Uhura.
UHURA [OC]: Yes, Captain?
KIRK: Put me on ship-wide intercom.
UHURA [OC]: Aye, sir.
KIRK: Kang.
UHURA [OC]: Ready, Captain.
KIRK: This is Captain Kirk. A truce is ordered. The fighting is over. Lay down your weapons.
KANG: This is Kang. Cease hostilities. Disarm.
(The fighting stops. The weird light turns orange.)
SPOCK: The cessation of violence appears to have weakened it, Captain. I suggest that good spirits might make an effective weapon.
KIRK: Get off my ship. You're a dead duck here. You're powerless. We know about you, and we don't want to play. Maybe there are others like you around. Maybe you've caused a lot of suffering, a lot of history, but that's all over. We'll be on guard now, ready for you. So ship out! Come on! Haul it!
MCCOY: Yeah, out already.
KANG: Out! We need no urging to hate humans. But for the present, only a fool fights in a burning house. Out!
(To the sound of laughter, the weird light turns to white and leaves the Enterprise.