"The Hunt"
The Enterprise encounters an agrarian civilization of humans they didn't expect to find on the planet Septimus 3. It turns out that some kind of a record keeping error had caused their colony to fall off of the star fleets radar, some 200 years ago. There are relics here and there of old Starfleet tech, but the only thing that actually still works is an old jukebox that plays crappy top 40 hits from the late 21st century (AI-composed plastic dance and emo fusion rock with R&B singers crooning over clichéd guitar solos, every single instrument invoice auto-tuned.) The first thing that Kirk and company do is invite them to reconnect with Starfleet, but the Septimusians are not having it. "Why would we want to join a Federation of people who are constantly fighting and don't know how to dance?" they say. It's entirely their right so the landing party decides to leave. But the Septimusians, proud of everything that they have accomplished in Starfleet's absence, insist on sharing artifacts of their cultural evolution with the crew, for them to take back to Earth and be recorded and archived for posterity. So they shower the crew with gifts of all kinds, mostly art, and they subject them to performances of music that is a lot better than anything that was playing on the jukebox, all performed by babes in revealing outfits made from colorful scarves, leading McCoy to suggest this as an ideal place for his upcoming retirement. Finally, they invite the crew to take part in their annual Hunt, which by happenstance just happens to be only a day away. Spock is hesitant; his suspicions have been raised by the odd behavior of some of the Septimusians, an elusive cadre of whom he spies intently observing the crew with eager and analytical eyes, taking furtive notes before suddenly ducking away. But then the Septimusians reveal whoever gets the most "points" in the hunt gets a free day with one of the pretty ladies, and Kirk is like What's the harm? We have phasers, and we can always just beam out if things get weird. So the next day they allow the Septimusians outfit them with their traditional manly chest-exposing hunting garb, and some hunting spears, the shafts of which appear to have some sort of archaic tech wound up throughout. The crew is curious about this, but Kirk dismisses it as mere tradition, a reminder for these people of their heritage as descendants of Starfleet. Just before they set out with the hunting party, Spock notices those weirdos again, who after an apparent final assessment of the crew begin to write numbers on a board, which sends the assembled crowd into a frenzy as the all begin to place bets. This is obvious to the point where McCoy makes the observation that gambling is something that humans bring with them wherever they go. Off everyone goes on the hunt. They wander around a rocky landscape for a while and then the leader of the hunting party suggests that they split up into teams of three, leaving Kirk, Spock and McCoy alone, with two other crewmen pairing up with one of the other parties. When Kirk asks how they will recognize the quarry, their guide says the spears will vibrate as it draws near. Everyone splits up. Kirk, Spock and McCoy start to have a bad feeling about things when nothing shows up and everything seems quiet for a long time. But then their spears start to vibrate, and they follow it's growing intensity into some trees, where they find both of the crewmembers have been speared right through the chest. Strangely, as they walk away from the man, the vibration of their spears steadily subsides. They move closer to the men, only to realize that their eyes have been removed. Spock says, simply, "Trophies," as McCoy realizes in horror, "My God, Jim! We're the quarry." They try to beam up immediately, but they can't reach the Enterprise, and drawing their phasers they discover they don't work either. Spock examines the spears and realizes that they contain a source of radiation that notifies the power source of both their communicators and their phasers. What following is a running gambit back toward the city center as the crew uses all of their wits and agily to evade the hunters, setting nonlethal traps and rolling out out of the way of arrows and such. Finally, they make it back to the city center where it turns out, they have officially won the hunt by surviving. Some of the gathered crowd is pretty unhappy about this, but a few of them are elated as they rake in the cash handed over by the sour losers, evidently having beaten the long odds. The crew is congratulated and presented with an onld but functioning Starfleet communicator which they use to contact ship and beam them the hell out of there. Kirk is tempted to burn the entire colony off the surface of the planet, but instead sends his report back to Starfleet, leaving them to decide whether these backward people still fall under Federation rule.
Next Episode: "Where Never Serpent Hisses"