"Let me out of here!" Kirk roared, pressing his face against the cell door's bars. "Take me away from this lunatic! I've had enough of him!"

Four guards crowded around the cell, staring at the raving Captain and his cellmate who stood as stiff and quiet as a board in the corner of the room.

"I'm done with this man! I'm done with him!" Kirk clutched onto an armored collar of one of the guards. "Get me out of here! I'll kill him! I'll kill him! I will!"

The guard swatted at the Captain's grip. "That's enough," he said. "We'll see what the Caesar has to say about your behavior."

It wasn't long before the shore party of the Enterprise was led once more into the Caesar's elaborate dining hall and meticulously seated at its table.

The Caesar waited at the head of the table, grinning like a wicked fox. "How quickly you have fallen from your stars and into the depth of your savagery," he said, "I expected nothing less from you. You say you're different; you think you're different, but you aren't. You're just as mortal, just as fallible as the rest of us. And it has only taken mere days for all of you to fall. But again, I can't say that I'm surprised."

Kirk locked eyes with the Caesar, matching the man's glare. "What could you expect from anyone who is pigeonholed by this society?" he said, "You force innocents to fight, to murder each other. No sane, logical, or well-tempered man could go undisturbed by it!"

Passively waving a hand, the Caesar dismissed the Captain, "We are not here to barter for your freedom, Mr. Adonis. We are here because you seem to be at odds with the Devil Man and you-" he gestured to Susanna "-my Emerald Goddess, has become at odds with Big Blue-" he pointed to Bones. "As I have mentioned, I've seen it before, so this is no surprise. And I want to give all of you the chance to work through your loss of kinsmanship. Two for two; a double feature in the arena. Mr. Adonis versus the Devil Man and my lovely goddess versus Big Blue. It will fill the stands! Once comrades, now enemies."

Warren bolted up from her chair, causing it to tumble behind her. "Let's do it! Let's get it over with!" she snarled before the guards retrieved her seat and shoved her back into it.

"Now, now, now," the Caesar said, wiggling a finger. "Be calm, my dear. This is a special occasion and it will not be wasted. Word must spread and the stands must fill! Tonight, you will get what you want in the darkness and heat of the night. It will be superbly glamorous."

"Mr. Scott!" Sulu shouted, spinning around to face Scotty who was currently standing behind the Captain's chair. "The probe we sent down is no longer reporting."

"Aye," Scotty said, stepping forward to lean over Sulu's console. "What happened to it?"

"I don't know, sir," Sulu answered. "I am reviewing the telemetry reports now."

"Well hurry up then, son."

Uhura lifted a hand to her earpiece. "Mr. Scott," she called. "I'm receiving some sort of static from the planet's surface."

"What do you mean?" he asked. "Didn't ye scan on every frequency before and heard not a thing?"

"After recalibration and further scanning, I was able to pick up additional noise from the planet's surface."

"Well, lass, where is it coming from?" he said, trotting to her console.

"I'm not sure," she said, gazing up at him. "I'll narrow my scanning range to determine the exact source of the static interference."

"Dear God," Sulu mumbled to himself after examining the reports.

"What is it?" Chekov asked, craning his head.

"Mr. Scott!" Sulu shouted again. "I was reviewing the recorded footage before the surface probe was destroyed. You're not going to believe it!"

Scotty jumped from the deck, grabbing the back of the Captain's chair. "Well, show it to us!" he said, pointing at the viewscreen.

"Aye, sir," Sulu said as an image of a dense tropical forest appeared on the screen.

As the small landing probe scurried through the planet's dense brush, patches of static began interrupting its feed. Before the probe lost all visual contact, a humanoid figure dressed in nothing but torn animal hide pointed a laser rifle at it. A few seconds later the viewscreen was encompassed by static before slowly fading to black.

"What on God's green Earth was that?" Mr. Scott spoke, wandering to Sulu's console and rewinding the footage.

"Must be the natives," Sulu answered, staring at the still image of the feral man. "You don't think they are responsible for what happened to both shore parties, do you?"

"I absolutely do, Mr. Sulu."

"The crew has been missing for eleven days, Mr. Scott," Sulu said. "And our second landing party has been missing for seven."

"Aye, I'm aware, Mr. Sulu," Scotty acknowledged, tugging at his chin. "We know that people can live on this planet and we know what type of weaponry they have. But aye, if these natives already took out two parties-"

"-We don't know that, Mr. Scott," Chekov interjected. "They could be hiding and fighting or- Who knows. I say we send down a party entirely equipped with type 3 phasers."

"Aye, but you're not in charge, lad."

Sulu turned to Scotty, frowning. "I have to agree with Chekov, sir. We have to do something."

"I know," Scotty replied. "And I want to save the Captain as much as the lot of you, but we can't sacrifice more officers in the process."

"I volunteer myself to beam down to the planet," Chekov said, springing from his post.

"I volunteer second," Uhura spoke, also standing from her chair.

"I volunteer third, then," Sulu added with a smile.

"And until one of you are in charge of this ship, my order still stands," Scotty reminded them. "No one is beaming to that planet without my say so. Understood?"

"Aye, sir," was the bridge crew's synchronous reply.

"Mr. Chekov, send down another surface probe," Scotty commanded. "If there is anyone on that planet, I want them found."

"Aye, sir."

Mr. Scott returned to the Captain's chair, refusing to sit in it as he often did but instead choosing to stand behind it ever vigilant. "And Lieutenant Uhura, I want that static cleaned up and I want to know where it's coming from."

"Yes, sir."