In this episode, Kirk and the Enterprise must contend with a pirate captain and crew who have stolen a load of cargo that includes medicine crucial to save a dying Spock (voiced by Leonard Nimoy).
On stardate 6334.1, the Federation starship Enterprise is enroute to perform ceremonial duties on Deneb V when the Vulcan First Officer, Spock (voiced by Leonard Nimoy), contracts a disease called "choriocytosis".
Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy (voiced by DeForest Kelley) notes that he can slow the disease, but Spock will still only have days to live.
The Starfleet freighter Huron is set to rendezvous with the Enterprise and deliver medicine when it is attacked by Orion pirates who steal its cargo, which turns out to be primarily a sizable load of dilithium crystals.
Analysis of the attack leads Captain Kirk (voiced by William Shatner) and his crew to chase the Orion ship in a desperate attempt to recover the cure.
They recover the medicine to save Spock, capture the Orion Captain (who orders his crew not to commit suicide via self-destruction), and retrieve the dilithium crystals.
[5] While in the 11th grade, he had a Star Trek short story published in the fanzine Probe, which was a yearly publication in East Meadow High School.
[6] After the script was used, Weinstein found that it enabled him to write the Star Trek novel The Covenant of the Crown for Pocket Books; he said in a later interview that it gave him "instant credibility" with the company.
[11] Michelle Erica Green watched the episode for the website TrekNation, saying that it included "precisely the sort of character interaction that made the original Star Trek such a success".
"[12] A 2018 Star Trek binge-watching guide by Den of Geek, recommended this episode for featuring the trio of characters Kirk, Spock, and Bones of The Original Series.