1.06 Mudd's Women

Kirk and co. are pursuing an unidentified vessel. Any particular reason? 

"He's pushing his engines too hard." Scotty knows that feeling. 

This random is no Chekov. 

The ship they're hounding is going to explode... 

Woosh! 

The bridge light bulb's blown. 

Uhura in a gold uniform! What the-? 

They beam aboard the ship's captain, "Leo Walsh", who seems to be attempting some sort of accent. Irish? 

Just before an asteroid hits the ship, they manage to beam aboard Walsh's "crew". 

Scotty's gone a bit misty eyed. 

McCoy is grinning like a loon. Spock manages to raise... an eyebrow. 

Scotty and Bones will have to stand behind that control desk for a bit. 

The women have quite the effect on the crew... 

...except Spock, of course. 

Kirk gets his first look at the ladies. Gulp. 

Spock makes the most of the opportunity to experience the emotion of "Smugness". 

Sulu is curiously unaffected. 

Walsh is reluctant to let his increasingly anxious crew be medically examined. 

Scotty has discovered that "Walsh" sabotaged his own ship. Jackass. 

"Walsh" is definitely up to no good, and tells the women to keep schtum. 

Spock continues to smirk at Kirk. 

Kirk convenes a hearing on the way to Rigel 12. Got to pass the time somehow. 

The ship's computer isn't buying any of this "Leo Walsh" guff. 

He's really Harry Mudd, smuggler, swindler, and owner of an unacceptably outrageous moustache. 

The women start to play Hypnotoad with Scotty and Bones. 

The computer detects that Scotty and Bones will have to remain seated for a minute. 

The dilithium crystals are on the blink so they'll have to appeal to the miners of Rigel 12. 

"The next orders you'll be taking will be given be Captain Harcourt Fenton Mudd!" 

Mudd's confined to quarters, but "his" women are free to roam the ship. 

Bones gets some unusual readings from Ruth. 

Kirk finds Eve hiding in his quarters and thinks it's Christmas. 

Eve isn't so comfortable with Mudd's plan to seduce Kirk, no matter how easy it was. 

Kirk's starting to lose his rag at his distracted crew. 

Mudd's wangled a communicator and is wheeler dealing with the miners in no time. 

Mudd's crew suddenly start to age; seems they're kept youthful looking by some - currently misplaced - pills. 

Mudd finds the pills in the nick of time, but Eve is tired of the cycle of dependency. She tries to resist... 

Mudd schemes to exchange the women for dilithium so as to have Kirk over a barrel. 

Mudd treats the women as commodities, and keeps them dependent on him for the "youthing" crystals.  

As soon as the Enterprise rocks up... 

...The miners start to squabble over Mudd's Women. This'll all end in tears. 

Eve runs out into the storm rather than be traded to the miners. Kirk goes after her. 

While the Enterprise scans from above... 

...Head miner Childress finds Eve first... 

 ...and takes her to his shelter, where she cooks in return for some food. 

"I do my own cooking!" snarls Childress, before happily scarfing down the meal. 

Love those circular playing cards. 

Childress starts to get narky; Kirk turns up. "I didn't touch her." 

The secret is out, as Eve starts to age when the drug's effects wear off. "You can't have it, because it's not real!" 

A twist! The drug is a placebo, and Eve's own self-confidence is what has made her young and beautiful. CLUNK CLUNK. 

"Right in the old heart..." Bones sticks it to Spock with some casual racism about Vulcan biology. Standard. 

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... Vengeance On Varos