Stardate 4040.7: The Enterprise locates wreckage of the S.S. Beagle, a ship that disappeared six years earlier. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to the nearby planet 892-IV with its astonishing 20th century version of a Roman Empire, where they hope to find survivors. They ally themselves with former slaves, the "Children of the Sun", who are hiding in the hills. But they are captured by the police and meet the First Citizen, who is no one else but Captain Merik of the S.S. Beagle, who now calls himself Merikus. When Kirk refuses to beam down his entire crew, Merik and Proconsul Claudius force Kirk to watch Spock and McCoy in a gladiator match on TV. Flavius, the "Child of the Sun" who was with them, is killed. Some time later the landing party are going to be executed too in a live show, but Scotty interrupts the planet's power supply. Merikus still attempts to switch sides and contacts the ship, but while Kirk, Spock and McCoy are beamed up, Claudius kills Merikus. Meanwhile on the ship, Uhura has found out that it is actually the "Children of the Son", the planet's version of Christians.

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