Crisis on Centaurus

Plot

On the planet Centaurus, the capital city New Athens is destroyed by a terrorist antimatter bomb, killing millions. A computer malfunction prevents rescue ships from approaching, and subspace communication is impossible. Three relief ships carrying medical personnel are destroyed by ground-to-air missiles when they attempt standard orbit. The USS Enterprise arrives to assess the situation but suffers its own massive computer malfunction; the transporter is inoperable due to residual tachyon radiation from the antimatter. Dr. McCoy's daughter Joanna is among the missing, along with friends and relatives of other crewmembers. Spock works to disable the planetary defense computers while Kirk, Sulu, and attorney Samuel T. Cogley become involved with the terrorists when their leader asks Cogley to represent them in Federation court. Kirk insists the terrorists receive a fair trial, but elements of the surviving Centauran government seek to prevent them from leaving the planet alive. Kirk learns three more antimatter bombs are hidden on Centaurus and takes refuge in a cabin he built in Garrovick Valley on the river Farragut. Spock deduces Kirk's location from the names on a map, and an orbital scan reveals government hovercars surrounding the cabin. Scott and his second-in-command use the crippled warp drive controls to bring the Enterprise into the atmosphere, where the ship's phasers set on stun disable the government hit squad. The terrorists are taken into custody, but the secret of cheap antimatter synthesis is lost because its creator was the suicide bomber who detonated the first weapon.