Intrigue

The crew of the Enterprise struggles to cope with a planet of imitative people who have modeled their society on 1920s gangsters.

The Enterprise investigates a planet visited 100 years ago by the U.S.S. Horizon. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down and find themselves in a culture similar to Earth gangs of 1920 Chicago. They are quickly taken prisoner by men in the employ of a mob boss named Bela Oxmyx, who wishes them to give him phasers in exchange for "a piece of the action." When they refuse, Oxmyx puts them under guard. Kirk creates a diversion with a card game called "fizzbin," but without their equipment, the trio must find a way to unite the planet and escape to the Enterprise alive.—trekkie4christ

The Enterprise visits the planet Sigma Iotia II, the first time in 100 years a Federation ship has called there. The U.S.S. Horizon was the first to visit but was soon thereafter destroyed. Their message, sent by regular radio, was only recently received. Little is known about the Iotians other than they are fast learners and very imitative. The Horizon's visit also predated the Prime Directive, so it's wondered to what extent cultural contamination has taken place. What they find on arrival is that the entire planet has patterned itself along the lines of violent Chicago mobs of the 1920's, with two bosses in particular, Bela Oxmyx and Jojo Krako, both out to take control.—garykmcd

Bela Oxmyx (Anthony Caruso) is a powerful gangland boss. His rival Jojo Krako (Vic Tayback) is equally as ruthless, and they both have many hoods who are armed with Tommy guns ready to wipe each other out.

But, This is not Gangland Chicago. These people are an alien race named the Iotians, and their planet was 'contaminated' by the Starship Horizon 100 years ago, when the Horizon accidentally left behind on the planet a book about 1920's Gangland Chicago on Earth. The Horizon spacecraft was destroyed shortly after it left the planet, but sent their report via conventional radio, which took 100 yrs to reach the Federation space, and thus Enterprise was assigned to investigate. The Iotians by nature love to imitate, and they made this one book their "Bible" and try to copy everything in it.

No sooner do Kirk and Spock beam down when they are kidnapped by hoods carrying Tommy guns, and brought before Bela Oxmyx, the big Boss. Oxmyx smokes a big cigar and has a moll, a floozy in a tight dress, by his side. Kirk tries to explain, but it isn't working. Oxymyx wants Kirk to supply him and his gang more phasers (what he calls Heaters) so that he can take over the entire town. He also confiscates their communicators and tells Scott that unless he provides more heaters in 8 hrs, he will kill Kirk and the landing party. Scott is flummoxed as he doesn't know what a heater is. Meanwhile, Kirk asks Spock to use his sociological computers on the Enterprise to figure out how to untangle the "contamination".

Kirk, Spock and McCoy have a series of incidents and lucky escapes from both Oxmyx's gang and Krako's gang. Kirk is captured by the Krako gang, but Spock and McCoy use radio frequencies to contact Uhura and beam back aboard. But Oxmyx lures them back down with a peace offer to rescue Kirk. As Oxmyx holds Spock and McCoy hostage, Kirk escapes from Krako and saves them from Oxmyx. At one point they enlist the help of a young punk who pretends to be hurt so Kirk and Spock can sneak into Krako's building. By now, Kirk is speaking like a tough gangster himself, trying to blend in, and he has a plan. Kirk corners Krako and transports him upto the Enterprise. Next Kirk and Spock confront Oxmyx and use Scott to transport all the other mob bosses to Oxmyx's office, including Krako. Krako's men organize a hit on Oxmyx's place. He gives orders to Scotty on the ship to blink out the power on the planet, in order to show the Federation's (the Feds') power.

Oxmyx, Krako, Teppo, and the other bosses are impressed, and they agree to Kirk's terms, whatever they are. Kirk says that the Federation will return every few years to collect their piece of the action (Kirk demanded a 40% cut for the Federation), but that the violence must stop. He appoints Oxmyx as the top boss with Krako as his 2nd in command. Kirk was forced to create this fantasy to preserve the Iotian society. Otherwise they would kill each other off. But Bones has left his communicator back in Oxmyx's office by mistake. Kirk tells Spock at the end "They are very advanced, they will study the communicator, they may pass us someday. Then they'll be stopping by to collect a piece of our action."