STORY BY
Leonard Nimoy
&
Lawrence Konner
&
Mark Rosenthal
SCREENPLAY BY
Nicholas Meyer
&
Denny Martin Flinn
DIRECTED BY
Nicholas Meyer
RELEASED ON
Friday December 6, 1991
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225
LAST UPDATE
2024-09-28 21:38:31
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Version 7
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SUMMARY
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BEHIND THE SCENES
DVD/BLU-RAY COMMENTARY
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TRANSCRIPT
FOR GENE RODDENBERRY
OPENING CREDITS
(a huge explosion spreading out through space)
Stardate 9521.6, Captain's log, U.S.S. Excelsior. Hikaru Sulu commanding. After three years I've concluded my first assignment as master of this vessel, cataloguing gaseous planetary anomalies in the Beta Quadrant. We're heading home under full impulse power. I am pleased to report that ship and crew have functioned well.
[Excelsior bridge]
SULU: According to this we've completed our exploration of the entire sector.
(the ship begins to shudder and Sulu's teacup rattles off his table and breaks on the floor)
VALTANE: I have an energy wave from two hundred and forty degrees mark six port.
SULU: Visual! My ...God. ...Shields!
(an energy wave hits the ship throwing the crew about)
LOJUR (OC): Captain, she's not answering her helm.
SULU: Starboard thrusters. Turn her into the wave!
LOJUR: Aye.
SULU: Quarter impulse power! ...Damage report.
EXCELSIOR ENGINEER: Checking all systems, Captain.
SULU: Don't tell me that was any meteor shower.
VALTANE: Negative, sir. The subspace shockwave originated at bearing three two three, mark seven five. Location. It's Praxis, sir. It's a Klingon moon.
SULU: Praxis is their key energy production facility. ...Send to Klingon High Command. 'This is Excelsior, a Federation starship. We have monitored a large explosion in your sector. Do you require assistance?'
RAND: Aye sir.
SULU: Mister Valtane, any more data?
VALTANE: Yes sir. I have confirmed the location of Praxis, sir, but...
SULU: What is it?
VALTANE: I cannot confirm the existence of Praxis.
SULU: On screen! ...Magnify!
COMPUTER VOICE: Computer enhancement.
SULU: Praxis?
VALTANE: What's left of it, sir.
RAND: Captain, I'm getting a message from Praxis.
SULU: Let's have it.
KERLA (on viewscreen): This is Brigadier Kerla, speaking for the High Command. There has been an incident on Praxis. However everything is under control. We have no need for assistance. Obey treaty stipulations and remain outside the Neutral Zone. This transmission ends now.
SULU: An incident?
RAND: Do we report this, sir?
SULU: Are you kidding?
[Starfleet briefing room]
KIRK: What are we doing here?
McCOY: Maybe they're throwing us a retirement party.
SCOTT: That suits me. I just bought a boat.
UHURA: This had better be good. I'm supposed to be chairing a seminar at the Academy.
CHEKOV: Captain, isn't this just for top brass?
MCCOY: If we're all here, where's Sulu?
KIRK: Captain Sulu. On assignment. Where's Spock?
AIDE-DE-CAMP: This briefing is classified. Ladies and Gentlemen, the C-in-C.
C-IN-C: As you were. To break this information down succinctly, the Klingon Empire has roughly fifty years of life left to it. For full details, I'm turning this briefing over to the Federation Special Envoy.
SPOCK: Good morning. Two months ago a Federation starship monitored an explosion on the Klingon moon Praxis. We believe it was caused by over-mining and insufficient safety precautions. The moon's decimation means a deadly pollution of their ozone. They will have depleted their supply of oxygen in approximately fifty Earth years.
ATTENDEE: (aside) That's not in any of the data I saw.
SPOCK: Due to their enormous military budget, the Klingon economy does not have the resources with which to combat this catastrophe. Last month, at the behest of the Vulcan Ambassador I opened a dialogue with Gorkon, Chancellor of the Klingon High Council. He proposes to commence negotiations at once.
CARTWRIGHT: Negotiations for what?
SPOCK: The dismantling of our space stations and starbases along the Neutral Zone, an end to almost seventy years of unremitting hostility, which the Klingons can no longer afford.
MILITARY AIDE: Bill, are we talking about mothballing the Starfleet?
C-IN-C: Well, I'm sure that our exploration and scientific programs would be unaffected, Captain, but...
CARTWRIGHT: I must protest. To offer the Klingons safe haven within Federation space is suicide. Klingons would become the alien trash of the galaxy. And if we dismantle the fleet, we'd be defenceless before an aggressive species with a foothold on our territory. The opportunity here is to bring them to their knees. Then we'll be in a far better position to dictate terms.
KIRK: Sir!
C-IN-C: Captain Kirk?
KIRK: The Klingons have never been trustworthy. I'm forced to agree with Admiral Cartwright. This is a terrifying idea.
SPOCK: It is imperative that we act now to support the Gorkon initiative, lest more conservative elements persuade his Empire that it is better to attempt a military solution and die fighting.
C-IN-C: You, Captain Kirk, are to be our first olive branch.
SPOCK: We have volunteered to rendezvous with the Klingon vessel which is bringing Chancellor Gorkon to Earth, and to escort him safely through Federation space.
KIRK: Me?
C-IN-C: Well, there are Klingons who feel the same way about the peace treaty as yourself and Admiral Cartwright. But they'll think twice about attacking the Enterprise under your command.
SPOCK: I have personally vouched for you in this matter, Captain.
KIRK: You ...have personally ...vouched?
C-IN-C: You will extend Chancellor Gorkon full diplomatic courtesy, Captain Kirk.
KIRK: But a full Ambassador would be better equipped...
C in C: If there's no further business ...I wish you and your crew Godspeed. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. ...I remind you this meeting is classified.
CARTWRIGHT: I don't know whether to congratulate you or not, Jim.
McCOY: I wouldn't!
KIRK: We volunteered?
SPOCK: There's an old Vulcan proverb. 'Only Nixon could go to China.'
KIRK: How could you vouch for me? That's ...arrogant presumption.
SPOCK: My father requested that I open negotia...
KIRK: I know your father's the Vulcan Ambassador for heaven's sake, but you know how I feel about this. They're animals!
SPOCK: Jim, there is an historic opportunity here.
KIRK: Don't believe them! Don't trust them!
SPOCK: They are dying.
KIRK: Let them die! Has it occurred to you that this crew is due to stand down in three months? We've done our bit for King and Country. You should have trusted me.
[Spacedock - shuttlecraft approaching]
SHUTTLECRAFT VOICE: Control, this is SD one zero three approaching Spacedock.
SPACEDOCK VOICE: SD one zero three, you are clear to deliver Captain Kirk and party to NCC one seven zero one alpha. Over.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
VALERIS: Captain on the bridge.
KIRK: As you were. ...Lieutenant?
VALERIS: Valeris, sir. We were told that you needed a helmsman so I volunteered.
SPOCK: Lieutenant, It is agreeable to see you again. The Lieutenant was the first Vulcan to be graduated at the top of the class at the Academy.
KIRK: You must be very proud.
VALERIS: I don't believe so, sir.
McCOY: She's a Vulcan all right.
KIRK: Let's get this over with. Departure stations. ...Scotty?
SCOTT (OC): Aye sir?
KIRK: Did you find the engine room?
SCOTT (OC): Right where I left it, sir.
KIRK: Standby. Uhura, get me the dock master.
UHURA: Control tower, reading, sir.
KIRK: Control, this is Enterprise ...requesting permission to depart.
SPACEDOCK VOICE: This is control. Enterprise, Permission to depart granted. ...Thirty seconds for port gates.
VALERIS: Clear all moorings.
KIRK: Awaiting port gates from this mark.
SPACEDOCK VOICE: All lines cleared.
VALERIS: Aft thrusters.
KIRK: Thank you. Lieutenant, one-quarter impulse power.
VALERIS: Captain, may I remind you that regulations specify thrusters only while in Spacedock?
SPOCK: Hm. Hm.
McCOY (OC): Jim?
KIRK: You heard the order, Lieutenant.
VALERIS: Aye sir.
Captain's log, stardate 9522.6. I've never trusted Klingons, and I never will.
[Kirk's quarters]
Captain's log. (continued) I can never forgive them for the death of my boy. To me our mission to escort the Chancellor of the Klingon High Council to a peace summit ...is problematic, at best. Spock says this could be an historic occasion, and I'd like to believe him. But how on earth can history get past people like me?
VALERIS: Hm! ...Sir.
KIRK: You could have knocked.
VALERIS: We are almost at the rendezvous, sir. I thought that you would like to know.
KIRK: Right.
VALERIS: Permission to speak freely, sir? ...It is an honour to serve with you.
KIRK: You piloted well out of Spacedock, Lieutenant.
VALERIS: I always wanted to try that.
[Spock's quarters]
SPOCK: You've done well, Valeris. As your sponsor at the Academy I've followed your career with satisfaction. And as a Vulcan, you have exceeded my expectations.
VALERIS: I do not understand this representation.
(referring to a painting on the wall)
SPOCK: It's a depiction from ancient Earth mythology. 'The Expulsion from Paradise.'
VALERIS: Why keep it in your quarters?
SPOCK: To be a reminder to me that all things end.
VALERIS: It is of endings that I wish to speak. Sir, I address you as a kindred intellect. Do you not recognise ...that a turning point has been reached in the affairs of the Federation?
SPOCK: History is replete with turning points, Lieutenant. You must have faith.
VALERIS: Faith?
SPOCK: That the universe will unfold as it should.
VALERIS: But is this logical? Surely we must...
SPOCK: Logic? ...Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end. ...This will be my final voyage on board this vessel as a member of her crew. Nature abhors a vacuum. I intend you to replace me.
VALERIS: I could only succeed you, sir.
UHURA (on intercom): Now hear this. All officers to the bridge. Klingon battle cruiser off the port bow. All officers to the bridge.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
VOICE (OC): Captain on the bridge.
CHEKOV: Shall we raise our shields, Captain?
KIRK: I've never been this close.
SPOCK: The Chancellor is undoubtedly awaiting our signal.
KIRK: Uhura, hailing frequencies.
UHURA: Aye sir.
KIRK: Right standard rudder, bring us alongside.
VALERIS: Right standard rudder, Z plus five degrees.
UHURA: Channel is open, Captain.
KIRK: This is the Starship Enterprise, Captain James T. Kirk commanding.
GORKON (on viewscreen): This is Kronos One. I am Chancellor Gorkon.
KIRK: Chancellor. We've been ordered to escort you through Federation space to your meeting on Earth.
GORKON (on viewscreen): Thank you, Captain.
KIRK: Would you and your party care to dine this evening aboard the Enterprise with my officers as guests of the United Federation of Planets?
GORKON (on viewscreen): We would be delighted to accept your gracious invitation.
KIRK: We'll make arrangements to have you beamed aboard at nineteen thirty hours.
GORKON (on viewscreen): I shall look forward to that.
KIRK: I hope you're happy.
VALERIS: Captain, there is a supply of Romulan ale aboard. It might make the evening pass more ...smoothly?
KIRK: Officer thinking, Lieutenant.
CHEKOV: Guess who is coming to dinner?
[Enterprise-A transporter room]
KIRK: Energise.
(a crewman blows traditional bo'sun's pipe call)
KIRK: Chancellor Gorkon.
GORKON: Captain Kirk.
KIRK: May I present Captain Spock, whom I believe you know.
GORKON: Captain, face to face at last. ...You have my thanks.
SPOCK: Chancellor.
GORKON: Gentlemen, this is my daughter Azetbur, ...my military advisor Brigadier Kerla, ...and this is General Chang my chief of staff.
CHANG: I've always wanted to meet you, Captain.
KIRK: I'm not sure how to take that.
KERLA: Sincere admiration, Kirk,...
CHANG: ...from one warrior to another.
KIRK: Right. ...This way. I think you might enjoy a brief tour.
CREWMAN #1: They all look alike.
CREWMAN #2: What about that smell? You know only the top of the line models can even talk and...
VALERIS: You men have work?
CREWMAN #1/#2: Yes, ma'am.
VALERIS: Then snap to it.
[Enterprise-A officer's mess]
GORKON: I offer a toast. ...The undiscovered country, ...the future.
ALL: The undiscovered country.
SPOCK: Hamlet, act three, scene one.
GORKON: You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.
CHANG: (in Klingonese) 'To be or not to be.'
KERLA: Captain Kirk, I thought Romulan ale was illegal.
KIRK: One of the advantages of being a thousand light years from Federation headquarters.
McCOY: To you, Chancellor Gorkon, one of the architects of our future.
ALL: Chancellor!
SCOTT: Perhaps we are looking at something of that future here.
CHANG: Tell me, Captain Kirk, would you be willing to give up Starfleet?
SPOCK: I believe the Captain feels that Starfleet's mission has always been one of peace.
CHANG: Ah.
KIRK: Far be it for me to dispute my first officer. Starfleet has always been...
CHANG: Come now, Captain, there's no need to mince words. In space, all warriors are cold warriors.
UHURA: Er. General, are you fond of ...Shakes ....peare?
CHEKOV: We do believe all planets have a sovereign claim to inalienable human rights.
AZETBUR: Inalien... If only you could hear yourselves? 'Human rights.' Why the very name is racist. The Federation is no more than a 'homo sapiens' only club.
CHANG: Present company excepted, of course.
KERLA: In any case, we know where this is leading. The annihilation of our culture.
McCOY: That's not true!
KERLA: No!
McCOY: No!
CHANG: 'To be, or not to be!', that is the question which preoccupies our people, Captain Kirk. ...We need breathing room.
KIRK: Earth, Hitler, nineteen thirty-eight.
CHANG: I beg your pardon?
GORKON: Well, ...I see we have a long way to go.
[Enterprise-A transporter room]
KIRK: We must do this again, sometime.
GORKON: You don't trust me, do you? ...I don't blame you. ...If there is to be a Brave New World, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it. ...Captain Spock.
SPOCK: Chancellor. ...Madam.
AZETBUR: Captain,
CHANG: Well, most kind. 'Parting is such sweet sorrow,' Hm, Captain. 'Have we not heard the chimes at midnight?'
CHANG: (in Klingonese) Energise.
SCOTT: Thank God.
UHURA: Did you see the way they ate?
CHEKOV: Terrible table manners.
SPOCK: I doubt that our own behaviour will distinguish us in the annals of diplomacy.
KIRK: I'm going to sleep it off. Please let me know if there's some other way we can screw up tonight.
McCOY: I'm going to find a pot of black coffee.
[Kirk's quarters]
Captain's log. The Enterprise hosted Chancellor Gorkon and company to dinner last night. Our manners weren't exactly Emily Post. Note to the galley. Romulan ale no longer to be served at diplomatic functions.
SPOCK (on intercom): Captain Kirk. Will you please join me on the bridge? Captain Kirk?
[Enterprise-A bridge]
SPOCK: Ah, Captain.
KIRK: What is it?
SPOCK: I find this curious.
KIRK: Spock, I'm really tired.
SPOCK: We are reading an enormous amount of neutron radiation.
KIRK: Where?
SPOCK: Strangely enough it appears to be emanating from us.
KIRK: The Enterprise?
KIRK: Valeris, do you know anything about a radiation surge?
VALERIS: Sir?
KIRK: Chekov?
CHEKOV: Only the size of my head!
KIRK: I know what you mean. (on the viewscreen a photon torpedo hits the Klingon battle cruiser)
KIRK: What's happened?
SPOCK: We have fired on the Chancellor's ship.
CHEKOV: Torpedo room! Please confirm. Have we fired?
KIRK: Uhura, monitor!
UHURA (OC): Aye sir.
VALERIS: Direct hit!
UHURA: Confirmed, sir.
(a second photon torpedo shoots out and the Klingon ship loses gravity)
[Gorkon's stateroom]
KERLA (OC): We've lost gravity.
STEX: We are betrayed!
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
KIRK (on intercom): This is the bridge. Do you read me? Do you read me?
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK: Torpedo bay! Did we fire those torpedoes?
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
SCOTT: Negative, Captain. According to Inventory we're still fully loaded.
[Kronos One transporter room]
(two 'hit-men' in Starfleet environmental suits and wearing gravity boot beam aboard and shoot the Klingon transporter officer)
[Gorkon's stateroom]
GORKON: (in Klingonese) Find Chang!
[Enterprise-A bridge]
CHEKOV: Unable to confirm or deny firing the two photon torpedoes.
KIRK (OC): Hailing frequencies.
UHURA: Aye sir.
[Kronos One corridors]
UHURA (OC): Kronos One, this is Enterprise. Do you read? Over.
(the 'hit-men' shoot two more Klingons and third severing his arm. Pink Klingon blood floats in the gravity free environment)
[Gorkon's stateroom]
(the 'hit-men' shoot a fourth Klingon before targeting Gorkon)
[Enterprise-A bridge]
UHURA: It's very hard to make out, sir. There's been some weapons firing and a lot of shouting.
CHEKOV (OC): She's still listing.
KIRK: She's spinning out of control.
[Kronos One transporter room]
(the 'hit-men' transport out together with some Klingon blood)
KLINGON VOICE: (in Klingonese) Restoring auxiliary gravity.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
CHANG (on viewscreen): Have you not a shred of decency ...in you, Kirk? We come in peace and you blatantly defy that peace. For that I shall blow you out of the stars.
KIRK: We haven't fired.
SPOCK: Captain, according to our data banks, we have. ...Twice.
VALERIS: Captain, they're coming about!
SPOCK: They're preparing to fire.
CHEKOV (OC): Shields up, Captain?
VALERIS: Captain, our shields!
CHEKOV: Shields up, Captain?
KIRK: Signal our surrender.
UHURA: Captain?
KIRK: We surrender!
UHURA: This is Enterprise.
CHEKOV: If they fire...
UHURA: We surrender.
CHEKOV: ...with our shields down...
UHURA: We surrender.
CHEKOV: ...we will not be able to respond.
UHURA (OC): Repeat, Enterprise surrenders.
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
McCOY: Are we firing torpedoes?
KIRK: I wish I knew.
McCOY (OC): Well it sure looks like it.
KIRK: I'm going aboard. Spock, you have the conn.
SPOCK: I am responsible for involving you in this. I will go.
KIRK: No, I'll go. You'll be responsible for getting me out of this. We'll not be the instigators of a full-scale war on the eve of universal peace.
McCOY: I'm going too. They may need a doctor.
SPOCK: Perhaps you're right.
KIRK: Uhura, tell them we're coming. And tell them we're unarmed.
UHURA (OC): Aye sir.
[Kronos One transporter room]
KERLA: Have you lost your mind?
KIRK: I give you my word I don't understand what's happened.
McCOY (OC): We're here to help.
KERLA: Follow me.
[Gorkon's stateroom]
McCOY: Chancellor Gorkon!
KIRK: My God, what has happened here?
CHANG: You dare to feign ignorance?
KIRK: What happened?
CHANG: With a direct torpedo hit you crippled our entire gravitational field, and two of your Starfleet crew beamed aboard wearing magnetic boots and did this.
McCOY: Aren't you carrying a surgeon?
CHANG: We were until this disgrace.
McCOY: Then for God's sake, man, let me help. ...I've got a pulse. We can move him. ...I'm gonna need some light. Can we get him on the table? ...Hold him! Hold him, while I stabilise him. ...I said hold him! ...Sweet Jesus!
KIRK: Can you?...
McCOY: Jim, I don't even know his anatomy. ...His wounds are not closing.
KERLA: He's killing him!
McCOY: He's gone into some kind of damned arrest. ...Come on, dammit! Come on. ...He's not responding.
GORKON: Don't let it end this way, Captain.
CHANG: Under article number one hundred and eighty-four of your Interstellar Law, ...I'm placing you under arrest. You are charged with assassinating the Chancellor of the High Council.
KIRK: He tried to save him!
[Enterprise-A bridge]
UHURA: They've been arrested.
CHEKOV: Mister Spock, we've got to do something!
SPOCK: I assume command of this ship as of zero two thirty hours. Commander Uhura, please notify Starfleet Headquarters. Tell them precisely what has taken place, and request instructions.
UHURA: Aye sir.
VALERIS: But we cannot allow them to be taken back to Kronos as prisoners.
SPOCK: What do you suggest, Lieutenant? Opening fire will not retrieve them, and an armed combat is precisely what the Captain wished to avoid. We will be able to follow the Captain's movements.
VALERIS: How did you achieve this, sir?
SPOCK: Time is precious, Lieutenant. We must endeavour to piece together what happened here tonight. According to our data bank, this ship fired those torpedoes.
SCOTT: No way!
SPOCK: I sympathise, Mister Scott, but we need evidence. Please accompany me.
CHEKOV: And if we cannot piece together what happened? What then?
SPOCK: In that case, Mister Chekov, it resides in the purview of the diplomats.
[Federation President's office]
KLINGON AMBASSADOR: The Chancellor of the Klingon High Council is dead! The result of an unprovoked attack while he travelled to see you under a flag of truce on a mission of peace. Captain Kirk was legally arrested for the crime. May I remind you that he and Doctor McCoy boarded Kronos One of their own free will. None of these facts are in dispute, Mister President.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: I have ordered a full-scale investigation. In the meantime...
KLINGON AMBASSADOR: In the meantime we expect the Federation to abide by the articles of Interstellar Law, which you claim to cherish. Kirk and Doctor McCoy will stand trial for the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Out of the question. Ambassador Sarek, there must be some way to extradite these men.
SAREK: Mister President, I share a measure of personal responsibility in this matter, but I am obliged to confirm my esteemed colleagues legal interpretation.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: And what is the position of the Romulan government, Ambassador Nanclus?
NANCLUS: I must concur with my colleagues.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: You cannot possibly believe that James Kirk assassinated the Chancellor of the High Council.
NANCLUS: Mister President, I don't know what to believe.
KLINGON AMBASSADOR: I am waiting for your answer, sir.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: This President is not above the law.
SECRETARY (on intercom): Mister President, Starfleet Command is here from San Francisco.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Send them in.
C in C: Mister President.
CARTWRIGHT: Mister President.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Bill, ...Admiral Cartwright, Please, please sit down.
CARTWRIGHT: Mister President we cannot allow Federation citizens to be abducted.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Yes, yes Admiral, but I am constrained to observe Interstellar Law.
C in C: Sir, would you please take a look at this. ...Colonel West.
WEST: We've prepared Operation Retrieve based on the rising danger of terrorism between the Klingon Empire and Federation. Sir, we can go in, rescue the hostages and get out in twenty-four hours with an acceptable rate of loss in manpower and equipment. We have the technology to...
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Yes, yes. But suppose you precipitate a full-scale war?
WEST: Then, quite frankly, Mister President we can clean their chronometers.
NANCLUS: Mister President, they are vulnerable. There will never be a better time.
CARTWRIGHT: The longer we wait, the less accessible the hostages will be, sir.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Thank you, Admiral. I'll bear that in mind. Thank you, gentlemen. I believe that's all for now.
CARTWRIGHT: Mister President.
C in C: Sir. ...Those men have literally saved this planet.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Yes, Bill, I know that. And now they're going to save it again. ...By standing trial.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
STARFLEET VOICE: Report back, on the double. Do you read?
UHURA: We're to report back at once.
CHEKOV: We cannot abandon Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy.
UHURA: Of course not.
VALERIS: Four hundred years ago on the planet Earth, workers who felt their livelihood threatened by automation, flung their wooden shoes, called 'sabots' into the machines to stop them. ...Hence the word 'sabotage'.
UHURA: We are experiencing technical malfunction. All backup systems inoperative.
CHEKOV: Excellent. I... I mean, ...too bad.
[Federation President's office]
AZETBUR (on viewscreen): Mister President, I have been named Chancellor of the High Council in my father's place.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Madam Chancellor, you have my sincerest condolences on your recent loss. I want to assure you that this shameful deed will not....
AZETBUR (on viewscreen): Mister President, let us come to the point. You want the conference to go forward and so did my father. I will attend in one week, on one condition. We will not extradite the prisoners and you will make no attempt to rescue them in a military operation. We would consider any such attempt an act of war.
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: We hope you'll be our guest here on Earth.
AZETBUR (on viewscreen): After recent events you will understand if I say I prefer a neutral site. And in the interests of security, let us keep the location secret for now.
[Azetbur's office]
FEDERATION PRESIDENT (on viewscreen): As you wish, Madam Chancellor.
KERLA: (in Klingonese) Attack them now! While we still can.
KLINGON GENERAL #1: (in Klingonese) Attack or be slaves in their world!
KERLA: (in Klingonese) We can take them by force.
STEX: (in Klingonese) What they propose to divide.
AZETBUR: (in Klingonese) War is obsolete, General. As we are in danger of becoming.
CHANG: (in Klingonese) Better to die on our feet than live on our knees.
AZETBUR: (in Klingonese) That wasn't what my father wanted.
CHANG: Your father was killed for what he wanted.
AZETBUR: The peace process will go forward. ...Kirk. Kirk will pay for my father's death.
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
SCOTT (OC): It's as I said, Mister Spock. Inventory registers every torpedo.
SPOCK: Yet the data banks insist we fired. One computer is lying.
SCOTT: A computer doesn't lie.
SPOCK: Precisely, Mister Scott. Therefore we must inspect each torpedo, ...visually.
SCOTT: That could take hours!
SPOCK: Nevertheless.
SCOTT: And if they're all there?
SPOCK: Then someone forged an entry in the data bank entry in the data banks.
VALERIS: Gorkon's daughter has been named Chancellor. It was on the news.
SCOTT: I'll bet that Klingon bitch killed her father.
SPOCK: Her own father?
VALERIS: It is an old story, sir.
SCOTT: They don't place the same value on life that we do, Spock, you know that. ...Take my word. She did not shed one bloody tear.
SPOCK: Hardly conclusive, Mister Scott, as Klingons have no tear-ducts. Lieutenant, any response from Starfleet since our dispatch?
VALERIS: Yes sir.
SPOCK: And?
VALERIS: Commander Uhura is experiencing technical difficulties, sir.
SPOCK: Curious. Very well. For twenty-four hours we'll agree this conversation did not take place.
VALERIS: A lie?
SPOCK: An omission.
SCOTT: But in twenty-four hours we won't have a clue where the Captain Kirk is.
SPOCK: I know precisely where he will be.
SCOTT: You do? Where?
[Klingon courtroom]
KLINGONS: Kirk, Kirk, Kirk, Kirk...
[Federation President's office]
CARTWRIGHT: It's a damned show trial.
[Klingon courtroom]
CHANG: (in Klingonese) (translated)
KLINGON TRANSLATOR (OC): The Enterprise fired on Kronos One without provocation. The Chancellor and his advisors...
CHANG: ...having been lulled into a false sense of security by an invitation to a state dinner aboard Captain Kirk's vessel...
CHANG (OC): ...at precisely nineteen thirty hours that same evening.
KLINGON JUDGE: Call your first witness.
KLINGON OFFICER: After the first shot we lost our gravitational field. I found myself weightless and unable to function.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KLINGON OFFICER (on viewscreen): Then two Starfleet crewmen came walking towards me.
COLONEL WORF (on viewscreen): Or perhaps they merely wore Starfleet uniforms.
CHANG (on viewscreen): That remark is purely speculative. I move that it be stricken.
KLINGON JUDGE (on viewscreen): Colonel Worf, we are interested in facts, not theories.
[Klingon courtroom]
KLINGON TRANSLATOR (OC): If the gravitational field was not functioning...
COLONEL WORF (on viewscreen): ...how could these men be walking?
KLINGON OFFICER: They appeared to be wearing magnetic boots.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
SPOCK: Gravity boots.
CHANG (on viewscreen): Doctor McCoy, would you be so good as to tell me your current medical status?
McCOY (on viewscreen): Aside from a touch of arthritis, I'd say pretty good.
CHANG (on viewscreen): You have a singular wit, Doctor.
McCOY (on viewscreen): For twenty-seven years I have been ship's Surgeon aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. In three months I stand down.
CHANG (on viewscreen): Ah. You know. I believe that you consumed a rather generous amount of Romulan ale in the officers' mess on the night of question. Am I right, Doctor?
COLONEL WORF (on viewscreen): Objection!
KLINGON JUDGE (on viewscreen): Sustained.
McCOY (on viewscreen): We all did. All of us. That doesn't mean...
CHANG (on viewscreen): Was Chancellor Gorkon alive when you first examined him?
McCOY (on viewscreen): Barely.
CHANG (on viewscreen): Now be careful, Doctor. Have you ever, in your past, ...saved patients as 'barely' alive as he?
McCOY (on viewscreen): I didn't have the medical knowledge I needed for Klingon anatomy.
CHANG (on viewscreen): I see.
McCOY (on viewscreen): You were there.
CHANG (on viewscreen): You say you are due for retirement. May I ask, do your hands shake?
COLONEL WORF (on viewscreen): Objection!
McCOY (on viewscreen): I was nervous.
CHANG (on viewscreen): No. You were incompetent!
[Klingon courtroom]
CHANG: You were incompetent, whether deliberately or as a result of age combined with drink. The court will have to determine.
McCOY: My God, man, I tried to save him! I tried to save him. I was desperate to save him! He was the last best hope in the universe for peace.
KLINGON JUDGE (OC): The witness is excused.
CHANG: There we have it, citizens. We have finally established the particulars of the crime. And now we come to the architect of this tragic affair. ...James ...Tiberius ...Kirk. What would your favourite author say, Captain? 'Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings' Tell us your sad story, Kirk. Tell us that you planned to take revenge for the death of your son.
KIRK: That's not true!
COLONEL WORF: Objection! Captain Kirk has not been identified as the assassin.
KLINGON JUDGE (OC): Sustained.
CHANG: I offer into the record this excerpt from the Captain's personal log.
KIRK (recording): I've never trusted Klingons and I never will. I've never been able to forgive them for the death of my boy.
KLINGONS: (in Klingonese) Again! Again.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK (OC) (recording): I've never trusted Klingons and I never will.
[Federation President's office]
KIRK (on viewscreen): I've never been able to forgive them for the death of my boy.
[Klingon courtroom]
CHANG: Are those your words?
KIRK: Those words were spoken by me.
COLONEL WORF: Objection! My client's political views are not on trial.
CHANG: On the contrary, Captain Kirk's views and motives are, indeed, at the very heart of the matter. This officer's record shows him to be an insubordinate, unprincipled, career-minded opportunist with a history of violating the chain of command whenever it suited him.
KLINGON JUDGE: Continue.
CHANG: Indeed the record shows that Captain Kirk once held the rank of Admiral and that Admiral Kirk was broken for taking matters into his own hands in defiance of regulations and the law. Do you deny you were demoted for these charges, Captain? Don't wait for the translation. Answer me now!
KIRK: I cannot deny it.
CHANG: You were demoted.
KIRK: Yes.
CHANG: For insubordination.
KIRK: On occasion, I have disobeyed orders.
CHANG: And were you obeying or disobeying orders when you arranged the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon?
KIRK: I didn't know about the assassination until we boarded the ship!
CHANG: You still deny the Enterprise fired on Kronos One?
KIRK: Well...
COLONEL WORF: Your honour, please...
CHANG: And you still deny your men beamed aboard and shot the Chancellor?
COLONEL WORF (OC): Objection!
KIRK: I cannot confirm or deny actions I did not witness.
CHANG: Captain Kirk, are you aware that as the Captain of a starship you are required to be responsible for the actions of your men?
KIRK: I am.
CHANG: And if it should be proved that members of your crew did in fact carry out such an assassination?...
McCOY: Jim! They're setting us up! Your honours!...
COLONEL WORF: Do not answer!
KLINGON JUDGE: Captain Kirk, you will answer the question.
KIRK: As Captain ...I am responsible for the conduct of the crew under my command.
CHANG: Your honours, the State rests.
[Excelsior bridge]
SULU: Send to Commander Enterprise. 'We stand ready to assist you. Captain Sulu, U.S.S. Excelsior.'
[Klingon courtroom]
KLINGON JUDGE: It is the determination of this court that the prisoners are guilty as charged.
COLONEL WORF: I wish to note, for the record, that the evidence against my client is entirely circumstantial. I beg the court to consider this when pronouncing its sentence.
KLINGON JUDGE: So noted. Captain James T. Kirk, Doctor Leonard McCoy. In the interests of fostering amity for the forthcoming peace talks, the sentence of death is commuted. ...It is the judgment of this court that without possibility of reprieve or parole, you be taken from this place to the dilithium mines on the penal asteroid of Rura Penthe, there to spend the rest of your natural lives.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
UHURA: Rura Penthe!
CHEKOV: Known throughout the galaxy as the alien's graveyard.
SCOTT: Better to kill them now and get it over with.
SPOCK: Lieutenant. The torpedo hit ...once again, please. ...Hold!
CHEKOV: It is Enterprise. We fired.
SCOTT: That is not possible! All weapons visually accounted for, sir.
SPOCK: An ancestor of mine maintained that if you eliminate the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
UHURA: What exactly does that mean?
SPOCK: It means that if we cannot have fired those torpedoes, someone else did.
SCOTT: Well they dinna fire on themselves. There were no other ships present.
SPOCK: There was an enormous neutron energy surge.
SCOTT: Not from us!
CHEKOV: A neutron surge that big could only be produced by another ship.
UHURA: Kronos One?
SPOCK: Too far away. Very near us. Possibly beneath us.
SCOTT: If there were a ship beneath us the Klingons would have seen it.
SPOCK: Would they?
VALERIS: A Bird-of-Prey?
SPOCK: A Bird-of-Prey.
CHEKOV: Cloaked?
SCOTT: A Bird-of-Prey canna fire when she's cloaked!
SPOCK: All things being equal, Mister Scott, I would agree. However things are not equal. This one can.
VALERIS: We must inform Starfleet Command.
SCOTT: Inform them of what? A new weapon that is invisible? Raving lunatics, that's what they'll call us! They'll say that we're so desperate to exonerate the Captain that we'll say anything.
SPOCK: And they would be correct. We have no evidence. Only a theory, which happens to fit the facts.
UHURA: Assuming you're right, Mister Spock, why would they fire on their own President?
SPOCK: Indeed. This ship will be searched from bow to stern. Lieutenant Valeris, you'll be in charge.
VALERIS: Aye sir.
CHEKOV: I do not understand. If there was a ship underneath us, surely the assassins beamed aboard from that wessel, not Enterprise.
SPOCK: You're forgetting something, Mister Chekov. According to our data banks this ship fired those torpedoes. If we did, the killers are here, if we did not, whoever altered the data banks is here. In either case, what we are looking for is here.
CHEKOV: What are we looking for, sir?
SPOCK: Lieutenant?
VALERIS: Two pairs of gravity boots.
[Rura Penthe ice-desert]
KLINGON COMMANDANT: This is the gulag Rura Penthe. There is no stockade, no guard tower, no electronic frontier. Only a magnetic shield prevents beaming. Punishment means exile from prison to the surface. On the surface, nothing can survive. ...Work well and you will be treated well. Work badly and you will die.
[Rura Penthe mine]
KIRK: Oh my God!
(a huge alien accosts Kirk)
BEHEMOTH ALIEN: Quog wok na pushnat.
KIRK: Er, The, er, ...universal translator has been confiscated.
BEHEMOTH ALIEN: Ring notsa loskent!
KIRK: I'm sorry.
BEHEMOTH ALIEN: Rangnit ascru, unto pram shondik!
McCOY: He's definitely on about something, Jim.
BEHEMOTH ALIEN: Quog wok na pushnat!
(the alien picks Kirk up)
BEHEMOTH ALIEN: Quog wok na pushnat!
KIRK: If this is your spot, we'll move on.
BEHEMOTH ALIEN: Quog wok na pushnat!
MARTIA: He wants your obedience to the Brotherhood of Aliens.
KIRK: He's got it.
MARTIA: And your coat.
KIRK: I'm afraid not. Besides it wouldn't fit.
BEHEMOTH ALIEN: Quog wok na pushnat!
MARTIA: Krandog aranty. ...Krandog! Krandog aranty.
(the alien puts Kirk down)
MARTIA: Fendo pompsky.
KIRK (OC): Thanks.
MARTIA: This will help keep you warm. I'm Martia. You're Kirk and McCoy.
KIRK: How did you know that?
MARTIA: We don't get many presidential assassins.
KIRK: We didn't kill Gorkon.
MARTIA: Of course not. But there is a reward for your death.
McCOY: That figures.
KIRK: We've been set up all along.
MARTIA: Somebody up there wants you out of the way.
[Enterprise-A galley]
SPOCK: Any progress?
VALERIS: None. We have got a crew of three hundred turning their own quarters inside out, but the killers may still be among them. Surely they have disposed of these boots by now. Would it not have been logical to have left them on Gorkon's ship?
SPOCK: Even logic must give way to physics. Gravity had not been restored by the time they escaped. Without the boots they would have floated off the Klingon transporter pads.
CHEKOV: Why not simply vaporise them?
VALERIS: Like this?
KLAXON: Wails.
VALERIS: At ease. As you know, Commander Chekov, no one can fire an unauthorised phaser aboard a starship. ...Suppose when they returned they threw the boots into the refuse?
SPOCK: I'm having the refuse searched. If my surmise is correct those boots will cling to the killers' necks like a pair of Tiberian bats. They could not make their escape without them, nor can they simply throw them out a window for all to see. Those boots are here, somewhere.
UHURA: Did someone fire a phaser?
CHEKOV: It's all right. It's nothing.
UHURA: Mister Spock, Starfleet is screaming for us to return to port.
SCOTT: Who fired tha...
SPOCK: Ah! Mister Scott, I understand you're having difficulty with the warp drive. How much time do you require for repair?
SCOTT: There's nothing wrong with the bloody thing.
SPOCK: Mister Scott. If we return to Spacedock, the assassins would surely find away to dispose of their incriminating footwear and we will never see the Captain and Doctor McCoy alive again.
SCOTT: It could take weeks, sir.
SPOCK: Thank you, Mister Scott. Valeris, please inform Starfleet Command our warp drive is inoperative.
VALERIS: A lie?
SPOCK: An error.
UHURA: Do you understand? We have lost all contact with the Captain and Doctor McCoy.
SPOCK: Yes, at the moment they're surrounded by a magnetic shield. However, if I know the Captain, by this time he is deep into planning his escape.
[Rura Penthe mine]
(Kirk is fighting with a blue-faced horned alien)
McCOY: You've got him, Jim! You've got him where you want him.
(Kirk is down but is able to deliver a surprise blow)
HORNED ALIEN: Aarrgh! Aaarrrgghh! Aaaaarrrrrgghh!
McCOY: Are you all right, Jim.
KIRK: I think so.
MARTIA: They'll respect you now.
McCOY: That's a comfort.
KIRK: I was lucky that thing had knees.
MARTIA: That was not his knee. ...Not everybody keeps their genitals in the same place, Captain.
KIRK: Anything you want to tell me? ...Bones, why don't you see what you can do for him? Let them know we're not holding a grudge.
McCOY: Suppose he's holding a grudge?
MARTIA: When whoever it is makes their move, you won't be here to ask if he's the one. ...Do you wanna get out of here?
KIRK: There's gotta be a way.
[Rura Penthe sleeping quarters]
McCOY: Three months before retirement. What a way to finish.
KIRK: We're not finished.
McCOY: Speak for yourself. One day, ...one night, ...Kobayashi Maru.
KIRK: Bones, are you afraid of the future?
McCOY: I believe that was the general idea that I was trying to convey.
KIRK: I don't mean this future.
McCOY: What is this? Multiple choice?
KIRK: Some people are afraid ...of what might happen. I was terrified.
McCOY: What terrified you, specifically?
KIRK: No more Neutral Zone. I was used to hating Klingons. ...It never even occurred to me to take Gorkon at his word. ...Spock was right.
McCOY: Try not to be too hard on yourself. We all felt exactly the same.
KIRK: No! Somebody felt a lot worse. ...I'm beginning to understand why.
McCOY: Well, if you've got any bright ideas, now is the time.
KIRK: Time is the problem. You and I are nothing. You heard the judge. The peace conference is on again. Whoever killed Gorkon is bound to attempt another assassination. Unless we can get out of here...
(they hear a sound and feign sleep)
MARTIA: Kirk? It's me, Martia. Listen. No one has ever escaped from Rura Penthe.
KIRK: Except us.
MARTIA: It is possible. ...I know how to get outside the shield.
KIRK: How do we fit in?
MARTIA: Getting outside the shield is easy. But after that it's up to you to get us off the surface before we freeze. Can you?
KIRK: It's possible.
MARTIA: I can't make it alone. You're the likeliest candidate to come to this hellhole for months.
KIRK: Candidate for what?
(Martia kisses him. McCoy reacts knowingly)
MARTIA: Go to lift seven in the morning for mining duty. I'll see you there. Don't disappoint me.
McCOY: What is it with you, anyway?
KIRK: Still think we're finished?
McCOY: More than ever.
[Sulu's quarters]
EXCELSIOR COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER (OC): Sorry to wake you, sir.
SULU: What is it?
EXCELSIOR COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER): Starfleet urgently requests any data we have on the whereabouts of Enterprise.
SULU: What?
EXCELSIOR COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: Apparently they're refusing to acknowledge signal to return to Spacedock, sir.
SULU: Signal Starfleet that, ...we have no idea of location Enterprise.
EXCELSIOR COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: Sir?
SULU: You have hearing problems, Mister?
EXCELSIOR COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: No sir.
[Enterprise-A transporter room]
(Chekov is examining the platform and comes across a violet trace which he collects)
[Enterprise-A science lab]
SPOCK: Klingon blood.
CHEKOV: They must have walked through it when it was floating and tracked it back here.
SPOCK: This is the first evidence that corroborates our theory.
CHEKOV: Now we go to Starfleet?
SPOCK: Now we expand our search to include uniforms.
CHEKOV: All uniforms?
[Enterprise-A corridor]
CREWMAN #3: Clear, sir.
OFFICER: Make a hole.
CREWMAN #4: Coming through. Coming through.
[Enterprise-A crew quarters]
CREWMAN #5: Sir! Sir!
(Valeris takes a gravity boot found in crewman Dax's locker)
[Rura Penthe mine lift]
McCOY: I think we've been had.
MARTIA: No you weren't, Doctor. Get off at the first level and join the gang going into the mine. They don't take girls.
(Martia has morphed into a hairy brute alien)
[Enterprise-A crew quarters]
UHURA: You are Crewman Dax?
DAX: Yes, Commander. What is the problem?
CHEKOV: Perhaps you know Russian epic of Cinderella? ...If the shoe fits, wear it!
SPOCK: Mister Chekov...
(Spock is pointing to Dax's webbed feet which won't fit into a gravity boot)
[Rura Penthe mine]
MARTIA: Watch me.
McCOY: What kind of creature is this? Last night you two were...
KIRK: Don't remind me.
MARTIA: Get in.
(they board a mine train and when they get off Martia morphs into a young girl and slips off her manacles)
MARTIA: come on we don't have a lot of time.
(they enter a tunnel, crawling upwards. Martia has morphed into the hairy brute alien again)
MARTIA: Hurry! ...Up there. ...Come on, climb! ...Here, you'll need these. Quickly!
(she points to bundles of fur garments which they need as they encounter more and more snow)
[Rura Penthe ice-desert]
MARTIA: Stay close!
[Enterprise-A bridge]
UHURA (OC): There they are!
SPOCK (OC): They're emerging from the beaming shield.
SPOCK: Mister Scott, start your engines.
SCOTT: Aye, aye, sir.
SPOCK: Mister Chekov, set course for Rura Penthe.
CHEKOV: Mister Spock, Rura Penthe is deep inside the Klingon frontier. If we're discovered...
SPOCK: That's correct, Mister Chekov. What is now required is a feat of linguistic legerdemain, and a degree of intrepidity, before the Captain and Doctor McCoy freeze to death.
[Rura Penthe ice-desert]
(McCoy falls exhausted to the ground)
McCOY: Leave me! I'm finished.
KIRK: No! ...Bones, I'm wearing a viridium patch on my back. Spock slapped it there just before we went on Gorkon's ship.
McCOY: Why, that cunning little Vulcan.
MARTIA: Come on! We're in the clear.
KIRK: Now that we're out of the shield they'll be able to locate us two sectors away.
McCOY: If they're even looking for us.
[Klingon listening post]
SLEEPY KLINGON: (in Klingonese) This is listening post Morska. What ship is that? Over. ...What ship is that? Over. ...What ship is that? Over.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
SCOTT: We must respond personally.
CHEKOV: A universal translator would be recognised.
[Klingon listening post]
SLEEPY KLINGON: (in Klingonese) What ship is that? Over.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
SLEEPY KLINGON (on intercom): (in Klingonese) What ship is that? Over.
UHURA: (in Klingonese) We art thy freighter ...Ursva.
[Klingon listening post]
UHURA (on intercom): (in Klingonese) Six weeks out of...
[Enterprise-A bridge]
UHURA: (in Klingonese) Kronos. ...Over.
[Klingon listening post]
SLEEPY KLINGON: (in Klingonese) Whither are you bound? Over.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
SLEEPY KLINGON (on intercom): (in Klingonese) Whither are you bound? Over. Whither are you bound? Over.
SCOTT: What is your destination. Over.
CHEKOV: Rura Penthe...
UHURA: (in Klingonese) Rura Penthe.
[Klingon listening post]
UHURA (on intercom): (in Klingonese) ...We is condemning food, ...things ...and supplies.
SLEEPY KLINGON: (in Klingonese) Don't catch any bugs!
(Klingon laughter)
[Enterprise-A bridge]
(they all laugh like Klingons)
[Rura Penthe ice-desert]
(Martia uses a device to make a camp-fire)
McCOY: Would you mind explaining that little trick you do?
MARTIA: I'm a chameloid.
KIRK: I've heard about you. 'Shapeshifters', I thought you were mythical.
MARTIA (OC): Give a girl a chance, Captain...
[And before his eyes becomes the enticing Martia again]
MARTIA: It takes a lot of effort.
McCOY: I don't doubt it. Stop me if I'm wrong but do we have any way of knowing whether this is the real you?
MARTIA: I thought I would assume a pleasing shape. ...We're outside the shield. Now it's your turn, Captain.
KIRK: If you say so.
(Kirk knocks Martia to the ground)
McCOY: Are you crazy?
KIRK: She didn't need our help getting anywhere. Where did she get these convenient clothes? And don't tell me that flare is standard prison issue. ...It's to let them know where we are. Ask her what she's getting in return.
MARTIA: A full pardon, which doesn't cover this.
KIRK: An accident wasn't good enough. Come on Spock.
MARTIA: Good enough for one. Two would have looked suspicious,...
(Martia morphs into a Kirk duplicate and the fight continues)
MARTIA: ...killed while attempting escape. Now that's convincing for both.
MARTIA: Surprise!
KIRK: Your friends are late.
MARTIA: They'll be along.
KIRK: I can't believe I kissed you.
MARTIA: Must have been your lifelong ambition.
KIRK: Isn't it about time you became something else?
MARTIA: I like it here.
KLINGON COMMANDANT (OC): Well, well, well...
KIRK: What took you so long?
MARTIA: Kill him! He's the one!
KIRK: Not me, you idiot. Him!
(the Klingon Commandant vaporises the Martia Kirk with his disruptor)
KLINGON COMMANDANT: No witnesses!
KIRK: Killed while trying to escape.
McCOY: Damned clever if you ask me.
KIRK: It's a classic.
KLINGON COMMANDANT: That's what he wanted.
KIRK: Who? Who wants us killed?
KLINGON COMMANDANT: Since you're all going to die anyway, why not tell you? His name is...
(Kirk and McCoy disappear in a transporter beam)
[Enterprise-A transporter room]
KIRK: Damn it! What the hell? Son of a... Couldn't you have waited two seconds?
SPOCK: Captain?
KIRK: He was just about to explain the whole thing.
CHEKOV: You want to go back?
McCOY: Absolutely not!
KIRK: Come on!
[Enterprise-A officer's mess]
(Scott is drinking a coffee and studying Enterprise schematics)
UHURA (on tannoy): This is the bridge. We are still in Klingon space. Deck nine. Remain at battle stations. Deck nine. Remain at battle stations.
(he detects a wrong sound and removes a ventilation grille, finding two space-suits)
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
KLINGON COMMANDANT (on viewscreen): (in Klingonese) They were beamed aboard a Federation starship! I could trace...
CHANG: (in Klingonese) Escaped. ...Escaped.
KLINGON GENERAL #2: (in Klingonese) Kirk cannot know the location of the peace conference.
CHANG: (in Klingonese) Are you sure? Will you take that chance?
KLINGON GENERAL #2: (in Klingonese) Helmsman, make a course to intercept Enterprise!
[Enterprise-A corridor]
SPOCK: The Klingons have a new weapon. A Bird-of-Prey that can fire while cloaked. She torpedoed Gorkon's ship.
KIRK: So, that's it.
SPOCK: Not entirely. I have reason to believe that Gorkon's murderers are aboard this vessel.
KIRK: I have a problem about that. Has the peace conference begun?
CHEKOV: Who knows? The location is a secret.
KIRK: There's always something.
SCOTT: Captain! Mister Spock, I've found the missing uniforms with the Klingon blood on them!
(as they round a corner they find two crewmen lying dead)
SCOTT: But the uniforms belong to these two men! Burke ...and Samno!
McCOY: Not any more. Phaser on stun at close range.
KIRK: First rule of assassination. Kill the assassins.
SCOTT: Now we're back to square one.
KIRK: Can I talk to you?
McCOY: I wonder why they weren't vaporised?
SCOTT: It would set off the alarm.
(Kirk and Spock have been conferring down the corridor)
SPOCK: It's possible.
[Enterprise-A all decks]
TANNOY VOICE: Now hear this. Now hear this. Court Recorder to sick bay. Code Blue, urgent! Statements to be taken at once from Yeomen Burke and Samno. Repeat. Court Recorder to sick bay. Code Blue, urgent! Statements to be taken. Repeat. Statements to be taken from Yeomen Burke and Samno.
[Enterprise-A sick bay]
(in darkness. Footsteps are heard from a shadowy figure. The lights go on)
SPOCK: You have to shoot. If you are logical, you have to shoot.
VALERIS: I do not want to.
SPOCK: What you want is irrelevant. What you have chosen is at hand.
KIRK: I'd just as soon you didn't.
McCOY: The operation is over.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
VALERIS: I did not fire. You cannot prove anything.
KIRK: Yes I can. At my trial my personal log was used against me. ...How long did you wait outside my quarters before I noticed you?
VALERIS: You knew? ...I tried to tell you but you would not listen.
SPOCK: Neither of us was hearing very well that night, Lieutenant. There were things I tried to tell you, about having faith.
VALERIS: You have betrayed the Federation. ...All of you.
McCOY: And what do you think you've been doing?
VALERIS: Saving Starfleet. Klingons cannot be trusted. Sir, ...you said so yourself. They killed your son. Did you not wish Gorkon dead? 'Let them die.' you said. Did I misinterpret you? ...And you were right. They conspired with us to assassinate their own Chancellor. How trustworthy can they be?
McCOY: Klingons and Federation members conspiring together.
KIRK: Who is 'us?'
VALERIS: Everyone who stands to lose from peace.
KIRK: Names, Lieutenant.
VALERIS: My comrades will make sure all your ship-to-ship transmissions are Jammed.
KIRK: Names, Lieutenant.
VALERIS: I do not remember.
SPOCK: A lie?
VALERIS: A choice.
KIRK: Spock.
(Spock conducts a mind-meld with Valeris)
SPOCK: Admiral Cartwright.
CHEKOV (OC): From Starfleet?
KIRK: Who else?
SPOCK/VALERIS: General ...Chang.
KIRK (OC): Who else?
SPOCK/VALERIS: Romulan Ambassador and others.
KIRK (OC): Where is the peace conference? ...Where is the peace conference?
VALERIS: Ah! ...Ah! ...Ah! ...Aarrgh!
SPOCK: She does not know.
SCOTT: Then we're dead.
SPOCK: I've been dead before. Contact Excelsior. ...She'll have the co-ordinates.
UHURA (OC): I've already got it, sir.
SULU (on viewscreen): Standing by, Captain Kirk.
KIRK: Sulu! You realise that by even talking to us, you're violating regulations.
SULU (on viewscreen): I'm sorry, Captain, your message is breaking up.
KIRK: Bless you, Sulu. Where's the peace conference? They're going to attempt another assassination.
SULU (on viewscreen): The Conference is at Camp Khitomer, near the Romulan border. I'm sending exact coordinates on a coded frequency.
KIRK: I'm afraid we gonna more than that. There's a Bird-of-Prey on the lookout for us. And she can fire while cloaked.
SULU (on viewscreen): Surely not.
KIRK: Hold on. ...How many of those things are there? Come on, Lieutenant!
VALERIS: Just the prototype.
KIRK: Do you hear that?
SULU (on viewscreen): I'm getting underway now. We're now in Alpha Quadrant. The chances of our reaching the conference in time are slim.
KIRK: When does this conference start?
SULU (on viewscreen): According to my information, today.
KIRK: Thank you, Captain Sulu.
SULU (on viewscreen): Don't mention it, Captain Kirk.
[Spock's quarters]
KIRK: Spock?
SPOCK: I prefer it dark.
KIRK: Dining on ashes?
SPOCK: You were right. It was arrogant presumption on my part that got us into this situation. You and the Doctor might have been killed.
KIRK: The night is young. You said it yourself. It was logical. Peace is worth a few personal risks. ...You're a great one for logic. I'm a great one for rushing in where angels fear to tread. We're both extremists. Reality is probably somewhere in between us. ...I couldn't get past the death of my son.
SPOCK: I was prejudiced by her accomplishments as a Vulcan.
KIRK: Gorkon had to die before I understood how prejudiced I was.
SPOCK: Is it possible ...that we two, you and I, have grown so old and so inflexible ...that we have outlived our usefulness? ...Would that constitute a joke?
KIRK: Don't crucify yourself. It wasn't your fault.
SPOCK: I was responsible.
KIRK: For no actions but your own
SPOCK: That is not what you said at your trial.
KIRK: That was as Captain of a ship. Human beings...
SPOCK: But Captain, we both know that I am not human.
KIRK: Do you want to know something? ...Everybody's human.
SPOCK: I find that remark ...insulting.
KIRK: Come on, I need you.
[Camp Khitomer conference hall]
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Madam Chancellor, members of the diplomatic corps, ...honoured guests. The United Federation of Planets welcomes you to Camp Khitomer.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK (OC): She's out here, somewhere.
CHEKOV (OC): But if she's cloaked...
KIRK: ...then all we have is a neutron radiation surge, and by the time we're close enough to record it we're ashes.
SPOCK (OC): two oh nine, ...two oh six, ...two oh three...
KIRK: Close enough to beam down?
SPOCK: Not yet, Captain. In two minutes, ...one fifty-eight...
KIRK: Go to impulse power for Khitomer only.
[Camp Khitomer conference hall]
FEDERATION PRESIDENT: Let us redefine progress to mean that just because we can do a thing it does not necessarily follow that we must do that thing.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK: Uhura?
UHURA: Nothing, Captain. If she's here, she's rigged for silent running.
[Enterprise-A engineering]
TANNOY VOICE: Coming up on transporter range in fifty-seven seconds. Transporter room. Stand by to beam down, ...fifty-three, ...forty-eight seconds, ...forty-four...
[Enterprise-A bridge]
CHANG (on intercom): I can see you, Kirk.
KIRK: Chang!
CHANG (on intercom): Can you see me?
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
CHANG: Oh now, be honest, Captain. Warrior to warrior...
[Enterprise-A bridge]
CHANG (on intercom): You do prefer it this way, don't you? As it was meant to be. ...No peace in our time. 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends.'
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
CHANG (OC): (in Klingonese) Fire!
[Enterprise-A bridge]
McCOY: This is fun.
KIRK: Reverse engines! All astern! One-half impulse power. Back off! Back off!
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
CHANG: (in Klingonese) What's she doing?
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK: What's she waiting for?
SPOCK: Probably trying to ascertain why we are reversing, wondering whether we detect her.
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
(Chang signals for another torpedo to launched)
[Enterprise-A bridge]
CHEKOV: Incoming.
[Excelsior bridge]
SULU: In range?
LOJUR: Not yet, sir.
SULU: Come on. Come on!
LOJUR: She'll fly apart!
SULU: Fly her apart, then!
[Camp Khitomer conference hall]
AZETBUR: Many speculated about my father's motives. There were those who said he was an idealist, others said he had no choice. If Praxis had not exploded, then quite possibly his idealism would not have found expression.
(a Klingon carrying a large briefcase is seen walking in a Camp Khitomer corridor)
AZETBUR: We are a proud race. We are here because we want to go on being proud.
(a third torpedo strikes Enterprise)
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK: Go to auxiliary power!
SULU: Auxiliary circuits destroyed, Captain.
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
CHANG: 'Tickle us, do we not laugh? Prick us, do we not bleed? Wrong us, shall we not revenge?'
[Enterprise-A bridge]
SPOCK: Gas. ...Gas, Captain. Under impulse power she expends fuel like any other vessel. We call it 'plasma' but whatever the Klingon designation is, it is merely ionised gas.
UHURA: Well, what about all that equipment we're carrying to catalogue gaseous anomalies? ...Well, the thing's got to have a tail pipe.
SPOCK: Doctor, would you care to assist me in performing surgery on a torpedo?
McCOY: Fascinating!
(the ship is hit again)
KIRK: Hard to starboard!
[Camp Khitomer gallery]
(the Klingon with the briefcase is seen overlooking the conference hall)
FEDERATION PRESIDENT (OC): The proposed agenda is as follows. The total evacuation of Kronos has been calculated within the fifty Earth year time span. Phase one, preparation for evacuation...
[Enterprise-A engine room]
SCOTT: Captain! She's packing quite a wallop. Shields weakening.
[Excelsior bridge]
SULU: Shields up! All right, now we're giving them something else to shoot at.
LOJUR (OC): Aye sir.
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
CHANG: Ah, the game's afoot.
(a torpedo hits Excelsior)
[Enterprise-A bridge]
CHEKOV: Excelsior's been hit!
CHANG (on intercom): 'Our revels now are ended', Kirk!
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
CHANG: 'Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war.'
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK (OC): Bones, where's my torpedo?
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
McCOY: Bet you wish you'd stood in bed.
[Enterprise-A engineering]
SCOTT: Shields collapsing!
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
SPOCK: The key, please, Doctor. Time is short.
(another torpedo rips through the Enterprise)
SPOCK: The hull has been compromised.
McCOY: I wonder how bad.
SPOCK: Connect echo bars.
[Camp Khitomer gallery]
FEDERATION PRESIDENT (OC): ...discuss the report on Phase two...
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
SPOCK: Alter circuit A.
McCOY: Sensor.
[Camp Khitomer gallery]
FEDERATION PRESIDENT (OC): ...propose we commence within minutes of the preparation...
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
CHANG (OC): 'I am constant as the Northern Star.'
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
McCOY: I'd give real money if he'd shut up.
SPOCK (OC): Plate please.
McCOY (OC): Plate.
[Camp Khitomer gallery]
(the Klingon with the brief case is assembling a rifle)
FEDERATION PRESIDENT (OC): ...and assimilation will continue...
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
McCOY (OC): We've got a heartbeat.
[Camp Khitomer gallery]
FEDERATION PRESIDENT (OC): ...with the Klingon Empire...
[Enterprise-A torpedo bay]
SPOCK: Key please.
McCOY: Key.
KIRK (on intercom): Where's that damned torpedo.
McCOY: She's ready, Jim. ...Lock and load.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK: Fire!
(the torpedo loops through space towards the Bird-of-Prey)
[Bird-of-Prey bridge]
CHANG: 'To be, or not ...to be.'
[Excelsior bridge]
SULU: Target that explosion and fire.
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK: Fire!
(together the Enterprise and the Excelsior destroy the Bird-of-Prey)
[Camp Khitomer gallery]
FEDERATION PRESIDENT (OC): ...as I imagine this work will occupy us throughout most of the week, it will be my hope that the delegations can return to the capital to implement the provisions of Phase one no later than the first of next month...
(the Enterprise bridge crew beam into a corridor outside the conference hall)
FEDERATION PRESIDENT (OC): ...As you know time is of the essence.
(the crew burst into the conference hall as the Klingon with his rifle now assembled targets the Federation President)
[Camp Khitomer conference hall]
KIRK: Out of the way!
UHURA: Out of the way!
KIRK: Mister President! ...Mister President!
(Kirk hurls the President to the floor as the rifle fires)
KIRK: Kirk, ...Enterprise.
KERLA: Protect the Chancellor.
CARTWRIGHT: Arrest those men!
SPOCK (OC): Arrest yourself.
(Spock reveals Valeris under arrest)
McCOY: We've got a full confession.
[Camp Khitomer gallery]
(Scott shoots the Klingon marksman sending him hurtling down into the conference hall)
[Camp Khitomer conference hall]
KERLA (OC): This is not Klingon blood.
(Sulu beams in)
SULU: Cartwright! Just a minute.
(Kerla strips off a Klingon face mask from the marksman)
C in C (OC): It's Colonel West.
AZETBUR: What's happened! What's the mean of all of this?
KIRK: It's about the future, Madam Chancellor. Some people think the future means the end of history. ...But we haven't run out of history just yet. ...Your father called the future ...'the undiscovered country'. ...People can be very frightened of change.
AZETBUR: You've restored my father's faith.
KIRK: And you've restored my son's.
(applause slowly breaks out in the conference hall)
[Enterprise-A bridge]
KIRK: Once again we've saved civilisation, as we know it.
McCOY: And the good news is they're not going to prosecute.
UHURA: They might as well have prosecuted me. I felt like Lieutenant Valeris.
McCOY: Well, they don't arrest people for having feelings.
CHEKOV: And it's a good thing too. If we did we'd all have to turn ourselves in.
SULU (on viewscreen): Captain Kirk?
KIRK: Captain Sulu! ...As much to the crew of the Enterprise, I owe you my thanks.
SULU (on viewscreen): Nice to see you in action one more time, Captain Kirk. Take care.
McCOY: My God, that's a big ship.
SCOTT: Not so big as her Captain, I think.
CHEKOV: So ...this is goodbye.
KIRK: I think it's about time we got underway ourselves.
UHURA: Captain, I have orders from Starfleet Command. We're to put back into Spacedock immediately, ...to be decommissioned.
SPOCK: If I were human, I believe my response would be 'Go to Hell!' ...If I were human.
CHEKOV: Course heading, Captain?
KIRK: Second star to the right, ...and straight on 'til morning.
Captain's log, U.S.S. Enterprise, stardate 9529.1. This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man, where no one, ...has gone before.
HISTORY
2024-09-28 21:38:31 -
Pike:
Added a banner.
2024-09-23 17:49:02 -
Pike:
Added the writers and director.
2024-09-12 00:55:15 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
2024-08-22 18:11:18 -
Pike:
Updated the summary.
