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Cover Blurb:
Kirk is stranded on a savage planet in One of Our Captains is Missing!
Synopsis
While Kirk is in the ship's gym, Starfleet Command contacts the
Enterprise to inform them that he has been temporarily relieved of command. His
replacement, Captain Zarlo, is to arrive by shuttle the following day. No
further details are given. The bridge crew is stunned! "H.Q. works in
mysterious ways its wonders to perform!" Says Dr. McCoy. "Aye!"
Scotty pipes up. "If it were you they were takin' Bones, they wouldn't
even have to send us another doctor, just a bottle of aspirin and an automatic
noise maker!". Spock and Scotty tell Kirk the news, but he tells them it
is simply a routine recall and that he has been expecting it. The following day
Kirk wishes the crew well, and they cheer him as he prepares to leave. Captain
Zarlo is piped aboard. As soon as Kirk has gone, Captain Zarlo orders a "Nuke
Malfunction Drill" each day for five days (The ugliest work on a star ship
according to Scotty!).
Some days later on the planet Mobita, a disguised Kirk is sitting in a
crowded bar. Some rough-looking characters pick a fight with him, and the
Captain is arrested after he knocks one of them down. He is taken to a dark
cell, where an old bald man waits for him. The man introduces himself as Prime
Minister Aado. He apologizes for the deceptive way in which Kirk was brought to
meet him, but explains that the rebel Togotas have spies among his own people.
He asks Kirk why he has asked to meet, since the Federation does not interfere
in the development of worlds. Kirk tells him the Federation suspects that
Klingons are behind the rebellion, due to the modern weapons that the Togotans
are using.
Aado tells Kirk that Mobita is a young planet, and that only recently
was the jungle of Togo explored - and the Togotan people discovered. At first
the Togotans had been completely trusting and innocent. They had been nicknamed
the "Sweet People" by the Mobians. Soon, however, their people had
been exploited by the Mobians for their labor, kidnapped, and even murdered!
Aado explains that he tried to meet with the Togotan leaders to make peace, but
that the Sweet People would no longer trust him. Then, they began to attack the
Mobians with modern weapons! Kirk tells Aado that Starfleet recently
intercepted a transmission from the Klingons that indicated they had dropped a
team of military advisors on the planet almost a year ago.
Kirk decides to travel into the forest to prove that the Klingons are
there. Aado assists him with a disguise. He tells Kirk that the disguise will
only work at a distance, because the Togotas don't talk - but communicate by
projecting mental pictures instead. He will be discovered if the Togotas try
and communicate with him. Kirk sneaks up to the outskirts of the Togotan
village and observes Klingon soldiers training them. As he is taking pictures,
a Klingon guard captures him and takes him before the Togotan leader. Kirk
tries to explain why he has come, but Chieftain Mwipi orders him to be judged in
combat to determine the truth.
Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, Captain Zarlo is still driving the crew
hard. He orders Scotty to perform the N-M-E drill yet again. "We've set a
new record for the drill in starship service and you're still pushing?"
Scotty asks. "Because the previous record was obviously set by a crew even
lazier than this one, Mr. Scott!" Zarlo says.
On the planet Mobita, Kirk faces a large well-muscled Togotan in single
combat. The captain is able to knock down the warrior with a kick to the
throat. He is then attacked by a several strange creatures, which turn out to
be illusions projected by the fallen warrior. Kirk flings himself upon the
tribal chieftain, and holds a knife to his throat. The two leave the village
together and Kirk warns the chieftain about the Klingons. A space ship arrives
to pick up the Captain, and Mwipi watches as the Captain boards the ship and
appears to leave. Once the Chieftain is gone, however, Kirk comes out of hiding
- still near the village! He is determined to find a way to defeat the
Klingons.
The Enterprise receives a coded message that Captain Kirk has
disappeared. Captain Zarlo tells the crew the truth about Kirk's secret
mission. The crew demands that Zarlo take the Enterprise to Mobita, in order
to help search for Kirk. Zarlo refuses and is only backed up by Spock. When
the crew threatens mutiny, Zarlo agrees to turn the ship toward Mobita.
On the planet surface, Mwipi uses "thought pictures" to tell
the Klingon warriors that his people will liberate their planet without outside
help. Kirk steps out of hiding and confronts the Klingons. The Klingons call
Kirk a lying spy, and Mwipi decides yet again to let the issue be decided by
one-on-one combat - this time between Kirk and the Klingon leader. As they
fight, Kirk accuses the Klingon of trying to get the Togotan people killed in
battle so that the Klingons can invade the planet in the guise of "liberators".
Kirk defeats his adversary, and the Klingon threatens to call his ship and have
it destroy the entire jungle! At that moment, the Enterprise arrives in orbit
around Mobita. It fires a warning shot off the bow of the Klingon cruiser, and
the ship quickly leaves the area - abandoning the Klingon soldiers on the
surface.
The Klingons are defeated and Mwipi and Aado are able to make peace
between their two peoples once again. They promise to learn to talk together,
and to make amends for the past. As the Enterprise leaves orbit, Zarlo tells
Kirk "I'd trade six months leave for a crew that would stand by me as yours
does!".
(Summary by Mark Lookabaugh)
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STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures
Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Gold Key is a registered trademark
of Western Publishing Corp.
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While Kirk is in the ship's gym, Starfleet Command contacts the
Enterprise to inform them that he has been temporarily relieved of command. His
replacement, Captain Zarlo, is to arrive by shuttle the following day. No
further details are given. The bridge crew is stunned! "H.Q. works in
mysterious ways its wonders to perform!" Says Dr. McCoy. "Aye!"
Scotty pipes up. "If it were you they were takin' Bones, they wouldn't
even have to send us another doctor, just a bottle of aspirin and an automatic
noise maker!". Spock and Scotty tell Kirk the news, but he tells them it
is simply a routine recall and that he has been expecting it. The following day
Kirk wishes the crew well, and they cheer him as he prepares to leave. Captain
Zarlo is piped aboard. As soon as Kirk has gone, Captain Zarlo orders a "Nuke
Malfunction Drill" each day for five days (The ugliest work on a star ship
according to Scotty!). 
