ST: TWOR- Chapter Seven

This chapter opens up with us back with S’Talon and crew. S’Talon and his officer Argelian are experiencing differing views on whether or not to make a move on the Enterprise just for giggles glory. Argelian gets fed up with this waiting game that S’Talon is playing so he challenges S’Talon’s right of command. But S’Talon just tells the guy to chill out, they have more important things to do than challenge each other or worry about damaging the Enterprise. After all, this mission is for the Praetor! Once everyone calms down S’Talon notices that S’Tarleya had her knife drawn to protect her commander just in case Argelian decided to go through with his challenge. Aw, Rommie lurve. After only a few short paragraphs we are back within the hull of the Enterprise… and what will we find there? We find that the ship is still not firing on all thrusters because of this computer. But now Spock is able to bring the issue into perspective for Kirk. He tells Kirk that the reason the computer can’t do anything important is because it is fixated on monitoring Kirk–his vitals, his whereabouts, etc. The problem is that the computer is in love with the captain. Shocking. Did we come to this conclusion earlier? I forget. Kirk tells Spock that the idea is crazy because a computer can’t fall in love. Spock on the other hand, tells Kirk that he’s empty headed if that’s what he thinks because the computer has been scanning all the information it can on the subject of “love” and has decided that Kirk is its “love object.” Yup. That’s the phrase that’s used.

Astonishment, amusement and terror flashed across Kirk’s face,

He finally gets it. And he recognises the danger it puts his crew in especially with the Romulans about. Spock let’s Kirk know that not everything is lost. The computer will still listen to Kirk, it just thinks that no one else is worth noticing. So as long as Kirk tells it what to do things should go relatively smoothly. Bones takes this opportunity to tell Kirk that he can’t run the ship by himself dog-gone-it! Spock says that’s just too bad, Kirk has to because they can’t just up and reprogram the computer without a starbase. Bones fumes, Kirk ponders and Spock raises his brows. Once they decide to just deal with the issue another one pops up. Lights blink, sounds beep and Spock rushes to his control panel just in time to see that now it’s dead.

Back in sickbay, Nurse Chapel is trying to help some patients and of course this involves the computer, which of course is not working, so of course she gets no where.

Back on the bridge Spock finds out that the computer has destroyed a portion of the female crew’s personnel files. Spock tells Kirk and Bones that this is the computer’s way of “killing off its competition.” Bones says this is ridiculous and Spock goes on to explain that now that the women on board are “dead” to the computer it won’t respond to any female aboard and therefore the ship is hopelessly understaffed.

While Kirk is fuming about this Spock decides its a good time to tell him that little flashy triangle thing that could read mental images is actually a spy so they’ve been under surveillance all this time. More than that it had been attached to Spock’s computer station. They decide to put it back but unactivated and find out if there are any more. Meanwhile they’re running down to engineering to see about switching over to the auxiliary computer system.

During this time Kirk peers at the viewscreen wondering about the Romulans and letting the hairs on his neck prickle…

Back at Starfleet, Commodore Yang asks for someone named Murphy who we are told is a genius. Good. Not enough of those in Starfleet.

Yang tells Murphy that need to figure out why the Iota isn’t working (I think that’s the triangle) because what happens aboard Kirk’s ship is extremely important given the situation and then this exchange happens:

“No. Don’t ask me why. I’ve just got a hunch that everything hangs on what happens aboard that ship.”

“Everything? You mean the Romulan Crisis?”

“What? I didn’t think that was general knowledge!”

“It’s not. But I am, after all, a genius.”

And now I like Murphy.

In any case, they talk about how Kirk is eventually going to need very important info from Yang and the only way to get it there might be this spiffy new robot that Murphy has been working on. Murphy is more than happy to offer up his toy which will fly off and find the Enterprise. Yang thanks Murphy and tells him that he’s indebted to him. Murphy tells the Commodore that, yes, yes, he is.

After that scene we run back to Tiercellus who is busy seething with hate over the fact that the Praetor doesn’t treat him like the fine wine he is. Those silly young people and their disrespect for age and beauty and old man-ness! How dare the Praetor order him to do something that might not grant him the honourable death he craved!! Arrgh!

Tiercellus finds it in his heart to calm himself with the thoughts that the Praetor’s little plan might not work out so well anyway so he might just have his moment in the limelight.

And back with the Enterprise guess what! Auxiliary control doesn’t work! What a shock! Kirk and Scotty grumble about what to do and settle on trying to get through to the controls anyway. Spock informs Kirk that he needs to remember to talk nice about and to the computer since its monitoring them at all times and if it feels slighted it might just cut off life support. Kirk begins to think that loving this ship wasn’t worth it because it’s the worst girlfriend he ever had! Nah, I made that up. But I think that should be in here.

Kirk muses for a little while and then comes up with the idea that maybe they could distract the computer into letting go of aux. control. Spock hmms and says this might work. So they try to distract it with random security checks. But there are risks, Bones reminds us, the computer is crazy. Kirk boldly says:

“If it succeeds we’ll regain control of the ship… we all knew the risks, Bones, and accepted them when we joined Starfleet.”

Motivating.

Back at Starfleet Yang is watching this little robot meant to find Kirk (which is called the SICR) whizzing through space. He decides to stop this and look at his desk and attempt to not think about the fact that the galaxy could interrupt into an explosion of warfare any second now. And he was risking it on a hunch that Kirk might need him. Hrm.

Back with the Rommies S’Talon is being fidgety while watching the Enterprise. The ship just isn’t doing what he thought it would. S’Tarleya tells him that they’re waiting for his orders, which is her way of telling him he better do something other than fidget. S’Talon then thinks to himself that he is lucky that she is not the Praetor’s spy because she knew his moods all too well. He tells his crew that they will wait. They will be sneaky. Romulan is after all, another word for “sneaky.”

End chapter!

I know I’ve said this before…

I’m sure there really isn’t anyone that reads this blog anymore given all the inactivity. But I do have a plan to revive it. I have a ridiculous amount of TBR books that I’ve read over the last year that felt much more pressing than the pile of Star Trek books sitting on my floor. However, I’ve been in the mood for some quick reads and that’s what these volumes are for me. Therefore, if all goes as planned I should have an update once a week for you readers, whoever you may be.

I think my issue has been (other than not having had a reliable computer for years) is that I chose to reread the first two books that I’ve recapped here and that just made an already easily bored individual bored out of their skull. So you can image that not only was that messy but also very, very unproductive.

So here’s to a better start.

Live long and prosper and read books.

ST: WOTR Chapter Six

Another long spell without posting. I apologise. Life has been… life again. Meantime let’s go back to where we were… (this is easier for you because you only need to click here)

So we start off with the Praetor watching as the tape Livius provided for him is melted away in a disposal canister. Livius evidently overstepped his boundaries (which shouldn’t be surprising for a Romulan working with Romulans…) and the Praetor is perturbed. He muses to himself about how irritating it is that Livius has tried an assassination attempt on S’Talon. S’Talon is clever and won’t be easily thwarted… not to mention it’s easy for the Praetor to tell that Livius is getting careless.

He continues to think about the position he’s in between Livius running around like a lunatic and S’Talon being all for the honour of the Empire and such. Poor Praetor feels his plans are slipping away from him. Sad.

Despite all this, our Praetor is sill able to draw satisfaction from knowing that S’Talon and Livius and more than likely Tiercellus as well will just die because their mission is destined to fail. How happy.

His tiny moment of happiness is dashed away when he hears some of his officers coming to speak with him. Planning and fighting wars suits our Praetor just fine, yet, he can’t stand the people in them. I know how he feels. His thoughts on this exactly are:

Give a man a bit of rank and he immediately proclaimed himself a god and set about challenging the established order.

So Tiercellus pops back in and tells the Praetor that the fleet is prepared and off to victory and such.  Yet, as Tiercellus leaves he over hears someone whispering about the praetor’s over confidence. One of those nasty young whipper-snappers no doubt.

Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, Uhura is settling into her quarters and fighting with her boots because the computer is unable to give her a size that fit properly. Once free of the boots she thinks at last she can relax. But the thought is banished as Spock quickly contacts her regarding exact information on how her workstation reacted while she looked for the malfunction. They have a quick discussion about it and then she sets off to shower. Once she’s ready to get back out into the world that is the ship she tries to get the clothing synthesizer to give her a new uniform but it’s only interested in giving her a gold one. Which we all know if the command colour. The shenanigans continue.

We then are blessed with a few more accounts of nobodies fighting with the computer. Someone with a garbage chute and then a young man studying command that is granted access to the documents he needs only when he compliments Kirk and appeases the computer.  These events are recorded by Spock and then our trusty Vulcan continues his work of trying to figure out the computer issue.

Then, to the shock of everyone, precious information in the botany lab is lost because the computer was more interested in making the corn grow because, you know. corn is the state plant of Iowa or something and therefore it is Kirk and therefore it is beautiful.

One of the engineering officers decides that he’s had quite enough of this ridiculousness and attempts to see if he can find something that Spock missed before the Romulans find out that this computer issue is putting the Enterprise at a great disadvantage. The officer doesn’t know if he can do much considering what even Spock was “stymied” in this instance. In anger the officer slams his fists on a keyboard and then a light blub goes off in his brain. He decides to ask the computer outright what it’s problem is but as is to be expected the computer doesn’t think there are any problems and proceeds to argue with the officer, who eventually gives up because who want’s to argue with a moody computer? Still, this wasn’t entirely in vain. Our officer discovered that since the computer sees no malfunction within itself it is a bigger threat to the ship than the Romulans. Therefore one must tell Mr. Spock.

Next, Spock is showing off a special little triangular sensor security thing to another nobody and telling him that if he activates it in a certain way it lights up and shows you pretty colours and may or may not be able to read your mental images. All of this is filler so that the kid can tell Spock that the computer is now perfuming anyone in the decontamination chamber.  This thought makes Spock “mildly horrified.” No doubt.

Lastly, Bones can’t get any of his medical work done because the computer won’t allow him to contact anyone but Kirk. Of course during this we are redirected to the original pending threat, that of the Rommie ship which has now reappeared…

ST: WOTR – Chapter Five

We start out with our “stunning” hero in an exhausted state. So much so that he didn’t even realise he was tired. Poor Kirk.

Kirk steps into a turbolift that plunges into a free-fall and we’re allowed a few sentences of his desperately trying to reach the manual controls before the lift spits him out on the desired deck anyway. Once out Kirk reaffirms that he’s still alive and tells engineering to have a look at the freak lifts.  Suddenly, he begins to suspects that his cabin may not be safe either… Gasp! He heads in with pomp and circumstance and notices nothing out of place because, had there been something he would have surely caught on, as he is, in fact, James T. Kirk, Noticer of Everything.  Certain that the coast is clear and here the computer can do nothing to him he shuts his eyes only to hear Brahms’ “Lullaby.”  How sad, the computer wants him to sleep to pretty music.

Meanwhile, Sulu is hungry. Evidently danger makes him hungry for corned beef. Danger makes me hungry for… Oreos. Yeah. So Sulu tells Chekov they should grab a sandwich and leaves the helm in the hands of a random person that we don’t care about. Chekov thinks this is a wondrous idea and the pair begin to rattle off food they enjoy while making their merry way to the mess hall.  Oh noes… the computer is going to be up to something else!

They order their food and the replicators decide to give them… Chicken. Even though neither of them ordered chicken. This is too much evil for one day. Even Sulu’s pickle was chicken! And he was served coffee. The nerve! What tomfoolery! They continue to play with the replicators hoping for a different outcome but of course all they get is chicken. Isn’t that fowl? Har har har.

Right ho, now that I’ve recovered. Sulu and Chekov gather all their chicken sandwiches and dejectedly head back to Sulu’s room because apparently he has none-chicken snacks.

On another part of the ship… Some dude named Kyle is trying to play a game that also malfunctions. How surprising. And remember, this computer glitch has something to do with the Romulans. Kirk is sure of that. Good thing they thought of messing with games and giving people chicken to really poke at the crew. Those clever little dearies. Any hoot, the computer doesn’t allow Kyle to play his game, instead it keeps opening a game called “Captian’s Square.” This computer crush is getting out of hand!

And of course we now move to Scotty, the man that really loves this ship… Scotty knows there’s been issues with the ship so he has one of his lackies check the phasers again. Then it’s off for rest and relaxation for Mister Scott. We all know how this is going to go, no doubt…

Scotty wants to read his technical journals but of course the computer has other plans and decides the only thing available in the library is the Comprehensive Biography of Abraham Lincoln. Scotty fights and swears at the computer for a bit before calling Spock to tell him to fix the problem. Spock of course has no anwser but files away the fact that the computer is bent on everyone brushing up on their Abraham Lincoln history.

Miffed, Scotty decides instead to tinker with his little models and find solace in building tiny ships.

Back with Spock, we have a determined Vulcan attempting to get to the bottom of the computer malfunction with little results. He runs some test and the computer answers only seven of the ten questions (getting them all wrong and ignoring the other three entirely), sticks its tongue out at him and runs around crazily. Not knowing what to do next Spock intelligently drums his fingers on the counter. Because he can come up with no other solution Spock begins to imagine that this whole issue is because of lint. Yes, that must be it, lint on the circuit board making the entire system go bonkers and fall in love with Kirk. After all, isn’t it due to lint that all those poor women are subjected to that man? And more importantly, why wasn’t anyone keeping up and making sure the computer system was still cleaning itself? Oh, the madness!

Frankly, I would be quite impressed if the author had decided that all of these shenanigans were because of dirt. That would be wondrous, however, we know it not to be true.

Anyway, Spock decides to pry open the computer and after he does so he notices a small little blue thing which he proceeds to pluck from the circuit board. Upon closer examination he notices that the little blue thing has the United Federation of Planets symbol etched on it. The suspense!!

Meanwhile we glide over to a Lieutenant Kevin Riley that is throwing a fit because of his late night guard duty. What is with all these trained officers and their pouting? How do they even make it out of the academy? No wonder the Romulans have no respect for Starfleet. So, Riley sits there bored out of his mind because he has no imagination, waiting for this tiny alarm to go off in case of emergency. The fact that the Romulans were out there close to the ship did not inspire this lad. No, in fact, it made his lot in the world worse. For, what could he do but sit around and stare at this little alarm while there were lives hanging in the balance? I know! How’s about reading on the computer library!

Because we need to be reminded that “Riley” is an Irish name, the lad looks up Irish poetry so he can wallow in the words of his motherland and not think of Romulans. But of course, this doesn’t happen. The computer instead, predictably at this point, plays him a segment of  some baritone singing something English. Cut to the heart the boy flails about and demands to know what happened to his potatoes poetry. He calls up Spock and complains and Spock tells him to get used to it and enjoy English writing for a spell. Riley is offended that his Irish soul is once again suppressed by the English as if he had fought those very wars himself.

Dejected by Spock’s lack of sympathy for his plight, Riley folds his arms and pouts some more, thinking to himself what a cruel trick life has played on him.  Ah, fersnickety!

Back with Spock again, we find that he is now certain that the computer isn’t working. Because nothing else tipped him off. Of course this is an issue since most importantly the communications counsel is on the fritz and they are just floating around with Rommies about. Despite all this information that Spock has collected he can still see no pattern. Not even the pattern we call all see. 

As ole’ pointy-ears is lost in thought he gets a call from Yeoman Rand, who is stuck in a trubo-lift. She tells him that he’s the only person that she can get through to. Spock ponders this. He then asks Rand to tell him exactly what happened while she was in the lift. The girls recounts her story of how she and her friend talked about how they thought the crew was just as important if not more so than the command because they’re what made the ship run.  Spock rubs his nose as once again the obvious as slipped through his fingers for so long… of course the computer doesn’t like the crew putting down the command…

After all that we are back to the Rommies! Yay! Tiercellus is busy keeping an eye on the fitting of his ship yet the younger Rommies think this is annoying because they’re trying to work so in proper Romulan fashion they just stare back at him. Tiercellus is unmoved, he will look at every inch of his command even if it makes him unpopular. He will show them what a real Romulan is like! He was going to single-handedly show the Praetor that all those other young whipper-snappers were fools and only those like himself could ever be counted on to lead! Oh the power!!

Taking a moment, Tiercellus reflects on how happy all those older commanders were to see him back on the job. The respect they showed made him glow inside his little Rommie heart. And of course, it was Tiercellus himself that was able to make the army react this way and not the Praetor which of course only upset the Praetor and made Tiercellus stupidly proud of himself. Never mind his age and weakness, his mind was sharp and that at least was something that the army could see. Not even the Praetor had a mind as sharp as he, but then again… the Praetor suffered from the terrible thing… what was it called? Ah, yes: youth.

Now, Tiercellus was off to find S’Talon, another young one, but young with a reputation. Tiercellus did respect the younger man though and found him to be much like himself. They both wanted to die for their empire and S’Talon would have that chance and the added benefit of not having to grow old. It was a mercy, really.

The old man let the idea of command and the excitement of death at the door run through all his fibers as he continued with his day dream until… and officer coughed by his elbow. The officer tells his commander that the ships are almost ready and Tiercellus, all pomp and circumstance tells him that he knows as he’s been watching. The officer also let’s his commander know that the crew say their faith is renewed in this mission and Tiercellus, dramatically, let’s the young man know that though they may not return from this voyage, the empire at least will.  The young officer hesitates and then goes on his merry way, because, really, what do you say to that?

Meanwhile, back with S’Talon, someone has tried to assassinate him. While he’s looking at the dagger S’Tarleya is telling him how it assassination was planned. S’Tarleya tells him that it could only have been Livius–the flea. S’Talon tells S’Tarleya that he is thankful for her uncovering how this attempt worked as he values his life. But as for now, he must deal with business. As we walks off leaving S’Tarleya there with the knife, she whispers to herself with little tears that, she too, values his life, even more than her own.

Aw… Rommie lurve.

Was that a long chapter? It felt like it. Onward!

 

 

ST:WOTR Chapter Four

The fact that in I’m chapter four and something has happened gives me some faith in this book.  Though I could be bias just because there’s Romulans in it.  More than that,  I haven’t felt the need to burn this collection of papers to the ground.

Commodore Yang is in a pickle as he thinks over the things he heard in his last interview with Kirk. Now, he is contacting the Federation to speak with Admiral Iota, because that’s just what one does in these…situations.

The admiral tells the commodore that he needs to know what’s going on with the Romulans. He relates what we already know, they have crossed the Neutral Zone but other than that have remained harmless. He is agitated that he cannot contact the Enterprise and wants to know if the commodore is having any better luck.

The commodore is on his toes because he realises that the admiral is pretty much flat out saying that he has a spy aboard Kirk’s ship because how else would he know anything?

The two dance around the spy subject and talk about the computer being in love with Kirk and the fact that no one has heard from him since they heard him complain about the computer and this all has to do with the Romulans.

The Admiral then tells the Commodore that they also suspect the Romulans are up to something truly nasty and therefore the Federation is posting a fleet specifically to deal with the threat they imagine in the Romulans.  And of course, Kirk is to lead this, but since they can’t get a hold of him they figure he’s probably already been killed by the Rommies.  …what about that spy?

The commodore refuses to believe that Kirk is dead and adheres to the Admiral’s order about having his star-port on high-alert just in case the Rommies want to blow something up and enter Federation space.

So… the Romulans can’t fly around their own space without people getting jumpy.  Very sad indeed.

Next we close in on Iota. He’s a funny fellow. Right now he’s getting the feeling deep in his soul that something needs to be done about this Romulan thing. Why, the Romulans are Vulcans after all and that makes them dangerous! More pacing happens as this is an intense situation. Just how will the Admiral convince the Federation to allow him to act on the Romulans floating around in Federation space now? But alas! Just then his secretary walks and thankfully, she looks like a stereotypical chubby secretary that just happens to know when her keeper is calling. Amazing!

His secretary’s uncanny ability to know when he needed her was always disconcerted him. He liked organization, and most of all he liked explanations. Her magical appearances always made him feel trapped in a fairy tale where the unexplainable was the order of the day.

That is possibly the best paragraph in the book thus far.

So he tells her a few things and she goes off to file and then Iota starts to plan war… because what else would you possibly do?

Back on the Enterprise… Uhura is having issues contacting Starfleet, since, she has to in order for this story to be filed under “Star Trek” and tells Spock she needs help. Spock in turn tells Kirk, who, as usual does nothing. Kirk then decides this is the fault of the Romulans and Spock sets out to investigate but alas, the computer is not interested in talking to him. The bored computer eventually tells him that yeah, the Romulans probably have something to do with.

Spock contemplates this for a moment. Kirk jumps to the conclusion that the Rommies are planning a full-scale invasion and ah! Spock agrees this could be possible, because everything is possible. Suddenly, things are desperate! Uhura can’t get through to Starfleet so the only thing to do is… Scotty! Everything is going wrong! Kirk’s spidy-senses start to go off and he knows something bad is happening.

Suddenly, Spock, the voice of reason simply states, that, did Kirk ever consider all of this was just happening because the computer is being stupid? Kirk, tells Spock the only reason he came to such a conclusion is because he doesn’t like the computer. Spock thinks this is also stupid and sets out to find answers.

Meantime, Kirk stares at the viewscreen trying to will the Rommies into existence.

Meanwhile, back with the Romulans…

Tiercellus is annoyed that someone is ringing at the door. At once he answers it and thinks about how young the man standing in front of him is.  He’s handed an envelope and finds inside instructions to report directly to the Praetor.  Tiercellus is a tad bit annoyed because he’s retired and doesn’t want to go but the Emperor is telling him to so he has no choice. Poo. But despite this he’s also somewhat happy because now he could possibly die in battle and that is so much more fun than sitting around this place and rotting.

Still, the Praetor doesn’t like Tiercellus, therefore Tiercellus concludes this must only mean the Praetor is out his depth and needs some one to help him out this should be none other than a seasoned retiree. Even so, Tiercellus is still not a happy camper.

Back on the Bird of Prey, S’Talon is swiveling at his desk which makes me like him very much. We now learn that S’Talon isn’t much of a decorator and like seemingly all Vulcaniods he likes red so he lit the room with it. While he’s swiveling he’s looking at his only decoration which is a t’liss or that Romulan bird we see occasionally on the show. Seeing it, he mocking tells it he’s pledged to obey and then begins cackling madly. …okay. So he doesn’t actually start cackling but he should. While he’s in thought, S’Tarleya pings at his door and then she comes inside and S’Talon allows himself to stare at her prettiness momentarily.

S’Tarleya is there because S’Talon called for her but she doesn’t let him say a word before she tells him she’s protesting to it. S’Talon is less than surprised and they have a tiny conversation about how their strategy is just what The Flea – Livius, wants. S’Talon assures S’Tarleya that he understands she’s concerned but he already told her this was practically suicide. S’Tarleya is offended and tells him that he didn’t tell her that the plan was stupid and that’s her beef. S’Talon acknowledges, that okay it is a little on the stupid side and then S’Tarleya explains in the very tiny way that Romulans care that the problem is she can’t stand to see him loose command of his ship; she’d rather see him dead. Believe me, for Romulans, she may as well of told him she loves him.

This revelation surprises S’Talon and he files away the remark in his little brain to think about later. Maybe it is Romulan love. S’Talon slips up a bit because he’s flustered at all the lurve in the room and calls S’Tarleya by her name which makes her freak out because… you don’t do that, you call me by my rank, boy! And then S’Talon manages to offend her by telling her she needs to trust him. I mean, c’mon! How dare you? Don’t you know she already trusts you? She’s talking to you, isn’t she?

All Romulans are INTJs.

S’Talon saves himself from her wrath and then confuses her with niceness which makes him smile. Then he changes the subject and back onto business… this “Kirk” thing needs to be addressed and S’Talon needs a fresh point of view. S’Tarleya tells him she doesn’t know anything that he doesn’t know. Kirk’s supposed to be brilliant and dangerous and there’s a lot of gossip but that’s it. S’Talon wants the juicy gossip. She shares a few bits of info including that she thinks the Klingons like Kirk because they want to kill him and that Spock is  dumb because he listens to Kirk.  She tells S’Talon that Kirk likes a contest and the Rommie commander’s eyes light up in happiness because he has an idea now! All he has to do his keep Kirk interested in his ship and then Kirk will leave the rest of the fleet alone to do whatever it needs to and… and… it’s brilliant! S’Tarleya agrees and they live happily ever after.

Actually, S’Tarleya just expresses that S’Talon is probably going to die doing this and S’Talon is way too cool for that so he’s like, no way, but he might risk the Romulan Empire.

Back at the Enterprise Kirk is staring at his view screen trying to will the Romulans onto it again and probably giving himself a headache while doing so. He felt like he was being watched but despite this he was mentally congratulating the Romulans for being sneaky… little does he know that “sneaky” is what the Rommies do best!

Kirk asks Spock how long the Rommies can stay cloaked and Spock is like, “Well… they shouldn’t have been cloaked this long, so I dunno, I’m only half Vulcan. But they probably have a more advanced cloaking device then we’re familiar with.” To this Kirk is like, “Fiddlesticks.”

Kirk is now considering the ramifications of a Romulan ship that has extra fuel. This novelty bothers him so much is creases his forehead. Poor thing. He knows that the Rommies are not spying. But he can’t figure out why they would wait so long to move if they were just wanting to set a trap. Since the wait is wearing on everyone Kirk tells them to rest up but the crew all complains that they’re not sleepy. Kirk tells them to go to bed anyway dagnabbit! McCoy tells Kirk to go to sleep, too. Kirk gives in and leaves the conn in Spock’s hands because Vulcan’s don’t need sleep.

Finally! On ward!!!