- The Enterprise hosts a number of quarrelling diplomats, including Spock's father, but someone on board has murder in mind.
- The Enterprise is transporting several diplomatic delegations to a conference on Babel regarding the future of the mineral-rich planet Coridan. Among the passengers are Spock's parents, Ambassador Sarek and Amanda. There is obviously a chill between father and son owing to Spock's choice of pursuing a career in Starfleet. Unknown to Spock or his mother is the fact that Sarek is seriously ill. There is also much tension among the delegations and a spy on board is transmitting coded messages to a ship that attacks the Enterprise. With Captain Kirk wounded in an earlier knife attack, Spock is in temporary command just as his father needs a transfusion that only he can provide.—garykmcd
- The Enterprise is on a mission to transport diplomatic delegates to a Federation meeting on the neutral planetoid Babel. The delegates include the Vulcan ambassador Sarek and his human wife Amanda, who refuse to be shown around by Mr. Spock, although they are his parents. Sarek refused any contact with Mr. Spock for 18 years because Spock chose a Starfleet career over his pacifist alternative of scientific study. The delegates already start to quarrel about the conference's subject, whether or not to admit to the wealthy, lithium-rich Corydon system to the Federation. An unannounced small alien scout ship at warp 10 parallels the Enterpise's course; it is in contact with someone on board. Then a delegate, who just walked away angry from Sarek after hearing Vulcan approves admission, is found killed with an expertly broken neck, as a Vulcan might do. Sarek has a heart attack which is very hard to treat, except with a blood transfusion for which Spock volunteers as donor, although McCoy considers the risk to great, but pulls out when an Andorian delegate's violent attack on Kirk makes Spock acting commander, disregarding his mothers emotional plea, until Kirk resumes command still weak, and then the alien attacks, while its contact aboard is still unknown.—KGF Vissers
- Spock's father is a Vulcan Ambassador for Peace and his Mom is a HUMAN schoolteacher. That's right, Mr Spock's father, whose name is Sarek (Mark Lenard), married an earth woman, named Amanda (Jane Wyatt). So Spock is really a hybrid, half-Vulcan and half-human. And today, everyone will meet Spock's parents, along with many other ambassadors, because there is a very special peace conference aboard the enterprise. Along with Vulcans, there are also Andorians and Tellerites. Tellerites have faces like pigs and full of hair. Andorians are blue with antennae on their heads like insects.
The ambassadors have come to discuss what is to become of the planet Coridan, which has great resources (and which the Romulan Star Empire is trying to plunder). The Coridan system wants to join the Federation and many ambassadors gathered want to prevent that. The Enterprise is to transport them to the council meeting at the planet of Babel. Sarek and Gav (John Wheeler) (the Tellerite ambassador) have an argument at the reception dinner which is overheard. Gav wants to know Sarek's position for the vote and Sarek says he favors their admission as Coridan has unlimited supply of Dilithium crystals and today the Tellerites are profiting by conducting illegal mining on it. Spock's Mom tries to tell him not to be so stiff, and not to hate his father so much. She tells Kirk about a teddy bear that Spock had as a child. Spock explains that the teddy bears on Vulcan had 6-inch fangs.
Now Uhura picks up a strong signal, but the source is hidden.. Soon thereafter a small craft starts following the Enterprise, out of phaser range and at extreme range of its sensors. The craft can travel at warp 10, and more agile than the Enterprise. Gav is found dead in a tube. The main suspect is Spock's Dad, Sarek. Sarek argues his innocence. Meanwhile Uhura figures out that the recipient of the signal is somewhere on board the Enterprise.
Meanwhile we learn that Sarek is dying (He has an Heart attack on board the Enterprise and McCoy has to perform open heart surgery to save him, but this surgery will require a lot of blood) and needs a blood transfusion from his son. Spock suggests that McCoy uses an experimental drug on him to speed up reproduction of blood cells, in order to produce the huge quantities required. But the drug has never been tested on Vulcans (only on closely resembling Rigelians and McCoy refuses). Now Kirk is attacked by Thelev, the Andorian sub-Ambassador. This leaves him with a punctured left lung and thus Spock is now in command. Kirk asks Spock to give his father the transfusion, although Spock does not want to leave his post in a crisis. the Andorian sub-Ambassador is not Andorian at all. He is a Romulan disguised with plastic surgery. Kirk is in sickbay, badly wounded by Thelev's knife, and Sarek is also there dying. Kirk asks McCoy "Why isn't Spock here to give the transfusion to save his father's life?" (Spock and his father have the same rare blood type, T-negative, so he is the only one who could save him.) McCoy tells Kirk "Spock won't leave the bridge, since you're wounded, and he's the acting captain."
Kirk gets mad, and orders McCoy to tape up his stomach wound. Then he struggles onto the bridge and orders Spock below to sickbay. After Spock agrees, skeptically, Kirk calls Scotty to take over, but then the red alert comes on (as the alien craft moves closer to the Enterprise), and he says belay that order. Now Thelev the fake Andorian is brought on the bridge under guard after he was caught trying to transmit a signal to the alien space ship. The Enterprise is low on power (after multiple phaser attacks from the alien craft), so Kirk gives the order to cut all power. Thelev is horrified as he says "You're baiting him." Yes, Kirk is, and once the Romulan Star Cruiser is near, Kirk opens fire and cripples them. Rather than surrender, they blow themselves up, which is the Romulan way, and Thelev swallows a poison capsule.
Down below in sickbay, all is well. Spock and Sarek are acting annoyingly logical to Dr McCoy, so he says "Shut Up" to Spock and "Shush" to Kirk. Then he smiles at Sarek and says "Well, what do you know? I finally got the last word." Turns out the alien craft was of Orion's who was posing as ROmulans to trigger an interplanetary war between Federation and Romulans. Orions were smuggling Dilithium from Cordian and would profit immensely by supplying Dilithium to both sides.
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