Court Martial Line-by-Line

STONE: Now let's get into the specifics of the storm, Captain.

 

KIRK: Weather scan indicated an ion storm dead ahead. I sent Finney into the pod.

 

Stone: Why Finney?

 

KIRK: His name was at the top of the duty roster.

 

STONE: If he blamed you

 

KIRK: He may have blamed me that he never rose to command a ship, but I don't assign jobs on the basis of who blames me. It was Finney's turn, and I assigned him. He had just checked in with me from the pod when we hit the leading edge of the storm. Not too bad at first. I signaled a Yellow Alert. Then we began encountering pressure, variant stress, force seven, the works. I finally signaled a Red Alert. Finney knew he had a matter of seconds. I gave him those seconds and more. But apparently it wasn't enough.

 

STONE: Then why, Captain, does the computer log from your ship, made automatically at the time, indicate that you were still on Yellow Alert when you jettisoned and not on Red?

 

KIRK: I don't know. There's been a mistake.

 

STONE: It would seem so. Could the computer be wrong?

 

KIRK: Mister Spock is running a survey right now, but the odds are next to impossible

 

Stone: Stop recording. Now, look, Jim. Not one man in a million could do what you and I have done. Command a starship. A hundred decisions a day, hundreds of lives staked on you making every one of them right. You're played out, Jim. Exhausted.

 

STONE: "That's the way my report'll read if you co-operate."

 

Kirk: A physical breakdown. Possibly even mental collapse.

 

KIRK: I'd be admitting a man died because..

 

STONE: "Admit nothing. Say nothing. Let me bury the matter here and now. No starship captain has ever stood trial before, and I don't want you to be the first."

 

KIRK: But if what you suspect is true, then I'm guilty. I should be punished.

 

STONE: "I'm thinking of the service. I won't have it smeared."

 

KIRK: By what, Commodore Stone?