War has already broken out on Trellisane by the time the Enterprise arrives, and Kirk ends up commanding from the bridge of a captured Klingon warship while McCoy is stuck negotiating with hostile locals and Romulan ships close in from the Neutral Zone. Holding a ceasefire together in a border region three empires all claim takes more improvising than diplomacy from a crew already stretched thin.
Summary by Loreful, from public sources
Placement
- Star Trek: The Original Series
- contained in Star Trek Twentieth Anniversary Collection IIomnibus