- To protect a space station with a vital grain shipment, Kirk must deal with Federation bureaucrats, a Klingon battle cruiser and a peddler who sells furry, purring, hungry little creatures as pets.
- Having received a Priority One distress call from an outlying space station, the Enterprise arrives to find they have been summoned there by a Federation commissioner merely to protect a shipment of seeds meant to sow wheat on Sherman's planet. The planet is also coveted by the Klingons, who are taking shore leave at the station. The trouble arises with tribbles - small furry creatures that seem to multiply without end. However, their fortuitous presence reveals both a problem with the wheat and a traitor on the space station.—garykmcd
- The Enterprise is called by urgent distress signal to a space station where a Federation official insists they take charge of security over a supply of a special grain destined for Sherman's planet, which is also claimed by the Klingons, who arrive soon for shore leave (managing to have a brawl with Enterprise crew after insulting Kirk and - what even gets to Scotty, the highest ranking officer present - the ship), a line of work Kirk has a hard time taking seriously but is ordered by an admiral. While some crewmen go on shore leave, they pick up a pet put on the market by space peddler Cyrano Jones: the tribble, a furball which eases human nerves and proves excessively fertile, causing Kirk even more stress, which only grows worse.—KGF Vissers
- The Enterprise is called by urgent distress signal to a space station K-7, where a Federation official Lurry (Whit Bissell) insists they take charge of security over a supply of a special grain (Quadrotriticale) destined for Sherman's planet, which is also claimed by the Klingons. Under terms of the Organian peace treaty, the dispute is settled in favor of the party who can prove they can develop the planet most efficiently. Klingons, unfortunately, are efficient and are hence claiming ownership of the planet. Nilz Baris (William Schallert) oversees development of the Sherman's planet, and he forced Lurry to make the distress call to the Enterprise. Darvin (Charlie Brill) is Nilz's assistant. Quadrotriticale is the only grain that grows on Sherman's planet and Nilz fears that Klingon will attack if the Federation tries to transport it to the planet. Hence Nilz asked Lurry to arrange a military escort for the grain.
Kirk is angry that he has been summoned with a fake distress call to protect a few tonnes of grain. He reaches space station K-7 and assigns security men for the mission of taking possession of the grain. He assigns shore leave for all off duty personnel. While some crewmen go on shore leave, Uhura picks up a pet on the market by space peddler Cyrano Jones (Stanley Adams): the Tribble, a fur-ball which eases human nerves and proves excessively fertile. Admiral Fitzpatrick (Ed Reimers) orders Kirk to protect the Quadrotriticale and see to it that it gets delivered to Sherman's planet.
A Klingon war-bird duly appears at K-7, but before Kirk can prepare his star-ship, the Klingon captain Koloth (William Campbell) is sitting with Lurry in his cabin. Kirk and Spock go to the meeting. Koloth reveals that he under terms of the Organian peace treaty, Klingons can use star-bases for their shore leave. Lurry doesn't have the authority to refuse. Kirk says Koloth can bring his crew, but only 12 at a time. Meanwhile the Tribbles start multiplying on board the Enterprise. Kirk sends Scott to the base to keep an eye on his men. Scott ends up getting into a fight with a Klingon, when he calls the Enterprise a rust bucket which should be hauled away like garbage.
Kirk is forced to cancel all shore leaves and meanwhile the Tribbles continue to multiply at an alarming rate. Nilz tells Kirk that perhaps Cyrano is a Klingon spy as his ship was seen in Klingon space just 4 months ago. Turns out that the Tribbles got into the Quadrotriticale storage compartments through the air vents and ate the entire grain. 1.7 million Tribbles are found in the storage compartments, but more than half are dead. Kirk asks McCoy to figure out what killed the Tribbles. Kirk constitutes an investigation and summons Koloth and his crew to it. McCoy figures that Tribbles don't like Klingons. Through that they figure out that one of their crew members Darvin is a Klingon and the grain was poisoned with a virus. The grain was poisoned by the Klingon to sabotage the mission to deliver the grain to Sherman's planet, but it ended up killing the Tribbles instead. Kirk then demands that Cyrano to remove every single Tribble from the space station. Meanwhile before Klingon move out of K-7, Scott transports each Tribble on the Enterprise onto their spaceship.
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