What The Heck?....That Makes No Sense.

Either a) he made a public show of giving it to Kirk so that the Yonadans wouldn't frisk him for the spare, just in case, because McCoy wants to be ready for anything, or b) Kirk/Spock slipped it to him when he wasn't looking. When he learns that there's a chance to save the asteroid ship, he reaches into his pocket without thinking and sure enough, found he had one after all. (Good old Jim/Spock).

 

Why do we believe this had to be covert? Would the Yonadans even care? Bones was quitting Starfleet and just simply giving back his Starfleet issued equipment - it was considered valuable and probably issued by the ship's quartermaster. Why couldn't Kirk overtly give McCoy a communicator back to him (but off screen) so they could keep in contact while they were still near the asteroid; they were best friends, after all - Kirk would smooth this loss of equipment with the quartermaster.

The Federation and Yoneda were parting on amiable terms. Later, it wasn't the possession or use of the communicator that McCoy was being punished for, it was what he was saying was the act of disobedience. If McCoy can be punished for what he is saying, the computer already knew he had the communicator and would have started punishing him immediately if that was the offense. Remember, once the Enterprise leaves, the communicator is useless until a starship gets close, again. It might be a good idea to call ahead to McCoy to call off another missile barrage.

 

Isn't he supposed to break ties, though?

 

There are degrees of "Break ties". Give up his allegiance to Starfleet (i.e. his commission)? Sure. Give up his friends? ~Gray Area~. Never make/take a call from the Federation? ~Gray Area~.

The Federation had no intention to "break ties" with Yonada:

ADMIRAL [on viewscreen]: Captain Kirk, I sympathise with your wish to stay, but I hope you recognise the necessity that you continue your mission at once.
KIRK: That is the problem, sir.
ADMIRAL [on viewscreen]: Perhaps haven't made myself clear. Let me restate it. You have been relieved of all responsibility for the asteroid ship Yonada. Starfleet Command will take care of the situation. (end of conversation)
SPOCK: I believe it's time to move on.
KIRK: Yes. Those are the orders.​

Starfleet wanted Kirk to move on to his next mission; it was probably important. There was plenty of time for Starfleet to fix the problem:

ADMIRAL [on viewscreen]: We have top men working on it now.
KIRK: Who?
ADMIRAL [on viewscreen]: Top. Men.​

 

But did they really get out, or just imagine it?

 

Yes, imagine if all the tng movies that followed (3) took place in the Nexus... Actually, that would explain a lot! (IE Picard beating the Borg against all odds, Picard saving a beautiful immortal woman and then spending nearly a year of leave with her, Picard fighting a younger version of himself and winning!!!)...

 

Not to mention being the coolest surviving Captain of the Enterprise! Kirk falls of a bridge! Picard thinking to Kirk, "I will bury you!"

 

Yes, he buried him in a nameless grave on a deserted planet... instead of giving him the honor of an official ceremony with pomp and circumstance that Kirk richly deserved! How grand of him!

 

It wasn't really a "show of giving it" because the Yonadans are already going back "underground" when he gives back the communicator and phaser to Kirk. This is clear in the sequence of images 8, 9, and 10 at http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/thumbnails.php?album=74&page=31.

It's just third-season doltishness by a novice Trek writer, not caught by D. C. Fontana's replacement as story editor. If the scene had been written with respect for the audience's intelligence, Kirk would have overtly told McCoy "Better hold on to this as a precaution" (rather than the writers making us assume he'd slipped it back to him offscreen).

In no episode does any character have a hidden spare communicator; in fact the members of a landing party often get into trouble just by having their (sole) communicators taken from them.

 

...Then again, Garak has a spare disruptor on him at least once, and those don't fit into any human nooks or crannies. Perhaps McCoy is just wilier than the average lot?

No way Picard could have buried Kirk there. It's up that bloody hill on ladders - twice. (That is, the hill is even higher in the movie than it looks like, as Kirk's fall involves doing all the bits twice.) And never mind that even getting Kirk from under that girderwork would have been gory beyond belief. Although Picard would have had to hack Kirk to small pieces anyway to hide him under that little hill of pebbles.

No, Picard just spent his idle hours piling rocks when birdwatching got too boring. And then tossed Kirk's badge on top of the pile.

Timo Saloniemi