Kirk leads a temporary command crew against a scavenger ship whose crew has surprising origins.
A scavenger ship attacks the USS Farragut and injures its captain. The Enterprise arrives, and Kirk takes temporary command, with Spock, Chapel, Scotty and Uhura among the crew. The scavengers seize the Enterprise and drain its power, forcing the crew to fall back on 20th-century telephones and manual controls. Kirk, struggling with the weight of command, devises a trick that makes the scavengers disable their own ship, which the Farragut then destroys.
The scavengers turn out to be human, descendants of 21st-century scientists who fled Earth after World War III. Haunted by his decisions, Kirk seeks Pike's advice. The episode puts Kirk in the Enterprise's center seat years before he will command her, and it shows a less assured Kirk than the confident captain of the original series. Valerie Weiss directed from a script by David Reed and Bill Wolkoff.