Voyage to Vulcan

When Mr. Spock starts behaving oddly, Captain Kirk asks Dr. McCoy to examine the Vulcan. McCoy reports that Spock is undergoing internal processes that will be fatal if they continue. Spock explains that he has entered pon Farr, the Vulcan mating cycle. If he does not return to Vulcan immediately to fulfill rituals and obligations that will culminate in his taking a wife, he will die. The captain disobeys direct orders from Starfleet, risking his career, and takrs Spock to Vulcan instead of proceeding to inauguration ceremonies on Altair 6. Kirk and McCoy are invited to accompany Spock to Vulcan to witness the marriage koon-ut-kal-if-fee. T'Pau, an esteemed political figure in Federation circles, conducts the ceremony. It is not as placid or simple as Kirk expects it to be. T'Pring, Spock's bethrothed since childhood, invokes her right to ritual combat, demanding that Spock fight a champion of her choosing to win her---and she surprises all by selecting Kirk as her champion. The captain agrees, only to discover the fight is to the death. Pleading that Vulcan's atmosphere places Kirk at a disadvantage, McCoy injects him with a tri-ox compound. The combat begins---and Spock, deep in the plan tow (blood fever) kills his captain. The grief cancels his mating urge, and Spock returns to the Enterprise--to discover Kirk is really alive and well. The overjoyed Vulcan shows the first moment of emotion he has ever expressed on the Enterprise on his own accord. McCoy had injected Kirk with a knockout drug---not a tri-ox compound. Kirk's professional neck is saved as Starfleet Command approves T'Pau's request for the Enterprise to divert to Vulcan.