Stardate 4385.3: As the Enterprise's mission is to establish contact with the Melkotians at any rate, Kirk chooses to ignore one of their warning buoys. When Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott and Chekov arrive on the planet, the Melkotians have set up an old Western town for them, where they are meant to die. It soon becomes obvious that the five are supposed to take part in a re-enactment of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881 in the roles of the Clanton Gang, who would lose the fight. Chekov, however, is killed by Morgan Earp before the big shooting. Since the tranquilizer that Spock and McCoy have prepared for the Earps does not work, Spock concludes that the whole scenario is just an illusion. With a Vulcan mind-meld he prepares his fellow crew members for the gunfight, telling them that the bullets are not real. They survive, and find Chekov alive back on the ship's bridge. The Melkotians, who now have proof of the Federation's peaceful intentions, agree to send a delegation.

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