Stardate 2947.3: After suffering the effects of a severe ion storm, including the death of Records Officer Benjamin Finney, the Enterprise puts in for repairs at Starbase 11. Kirk gives Commodore Stone his sworn testimony regarding the incident which, unexplainably, does not agree with the log tapes of the Enterprise computer. A hearing is held to determine if a court-martial is in order, and at that hearing Stone urges Kirk to take a ground assignment and have the affair swept under the rug for the good of the service. Unwilling to admit to negligence, Kirk demands a trial and later learns that an ex-girlfriend, Lieutenant Shaw, will be in charge of the prosecution. Shaw, however, wants to help Kirk and recommends defense attorney Samuel T. Cogley who wastes no time in moving into Kirk's starbase quarters. The prosecution builds its case on Kirk vs. the Enterprise computer log which clearly shows Kirk jettisoning an ion pod that contained Finney before calling for red alert even though Kirk maintains that the red alert did, in fact, exist at the time. In addition, Shaw reveals to the court an incident several years ago where Kirk logged a mistake made by Finney and suggests that because Finney blamed Kirk for the blot on his service record, Kirk might have reciprocated the bad feelings and jettisoned the pod out of malice. Spock, meanwhile, tests the Enterprise computer by playing chess against what should be an unbeatable computer opponent, and after winning several games concludes that the programming has been altered. To illustrate his theory, the trial is moved to the Enterprise. After Spock presents his evidence, Cogley, to the surprise of the court, blurts out that Finney is not dead but in hiding somewhere on the ship. The bulk of the crew are beamed down to Starbase 11 so that Finney can be found. After masking out the heartbeats of the remaining occupants, Finney is discovered in engineering and eventually confesses to framing Kirk and sabotaging the Enterprise while in orbit above Starbase 11. Kirk manages to find the damage Finney caused and make repairs before the ship's orbit completely decays.