The Retirement of Admiral Kirk This summary is of a story arc from the newspaper comic strip " Star Trek " . Summary . Admiral Yaramoto calls James T . Kirk to his office and informs him that he has been permanently reassigned to shore duty . After all , Kirk is an admiral and his recent command of the was always understood to be temporary . Rather than put up with shore duty , Kirk resigns . Meeting Leonard McCoy on the streets of San Francisco , Kirk informs him that he has quit Starfleet . They enter a bar and a four - eyed alien named Morbus , overhearing their conversation , inquires whether Kirk would be interested in serving as captain on the independent trader ship " Orion " . Kirk accepts , saying he " must have a ship . " McCoy is not able to talk him out of it , so says he will go along . Kirk is surprised , but McCoy reminds him that he was " mobilized on reserve , and it ' s about time I was de - mobilized . " Meanwhile , in spacedock , the crew is abuzz about the news . All Spock can say , however , is " interesting " , which irks Scotty . Spock replies with " intriguing " when Uhura informs him that Starfleet intelligence reports contain irregularities in the " Orion " s registration files . The " Orion " lifts off and Kirk ' s new career lifts off with it . On a tour of the ship , Morbus points out to Kirk the cargo hold , with many units to be shipped to Epsilon - 21 . Kirk had been told they were farm equipment , but when he presses Morbus for more information , Morbus tells Kirk the details are not his concern . Kirk is dissatisfied with the answer and decides to find out what the secret is . While Kirk relaxes with Morbus watching a hologram , McCoy searches the hold . As he finds something amazing , he is hit from behind by a crewman . The same crewman then reports to Kirk that McCoy is injured . They go to the hold where McCoy lays , unconscious , on the floor . The ship ' s doctor determines that McCoy will live , but that he will have to be sedated until after they reach Epsilon - 21 . Kirk is suspicious . He goes down to engineering , ostensibly to conduct a spot inspection . Kirk pushes a single button and , having done so , pronounces everything satisfactory . As he leaves the crew speak in hushed whispers that it was time they rid themselves of James T . Kirk . But Kirk has other plans , and investigates the hold himself . In there he finds the cargo boxes are filled with alien slave s . Morbus finds out about Kirk ' s discovery and confronts him in the cargo hold . Kirk reasons that Morbus had used Kirk ' s reputation to get the " Orion " cleared for departure , and Morbus confirms he now plans to kill him . But Kirk has had plans of his own . He programmed the engines to overload unless he provides the proper abort signal in the next sixty minutes . Morbus reminds Kirk that that would also kill McCoy . And Kirk then considers the innocent slaves . He backs down , cancels the overload , and is imprisoned in a cargo box with the slaves . The " Orion " then proceeds along its course . Suddenly , the " Enterprise " appears , firing a warning shot across the bow of the ship . The bridge crew informs Spock that the " Orion " is Kirk ' s new ship , a fact Spock acknowledges but says is irrelevant to his actions . McCoy awakes in the box along with Kirk and the alien slaves . Kirk tells McCoy he blames himself for the whole thing , that it resulted from his arrogance and his acting like a child after his command was taken away . But then the aliens speak to Kirk and McCoy . They are the Maroni , " " an ancient people with telepathic and empathic abilities . . . a peaceful race . " " They have allowed themselves to be treated as slave s for a hundred years while they observed the races of the galaxy and learned . Now , they are ready to act . Morbus ' s crewman interrupts the conversation and demands that Kirk accompany him to the command center , as Morbus wants Kirk to stop the " Enterprise " . As he is doing so , Spock provides the " Orion " an ultimatum : evacuate their crew in one minute or be destroyed . Kirk refuses to intercede , much to the surprise of Morbus . But during that minute , the Moroni join telepathic ally and form a single , unified mind that touches the other minds on the ship to change them . The Moroni succeed , telepathically revealing to the crew " the error of their ways " . Kirk then tries to contact Spock to abort the destruction of the ship , with less than a second to go . He fails , but the Moroni leader informs Kirk it is not necessary ; that they have been in constant telepathic contact with Spock before the vessel left Earth . Starfleet Command confirms Kirk ' s return to active duty status , although Spock retains command of the " Enterprise " . Kirk is confused by the outcome , though . If Spock knew about the slaves , why did he do nothing about it ? Spock replies that the Moroni indicated that Kirk had the situation well in hand . Scott feels chagrined , thinking all the time that Spock was simply uncaring about Kirk being on the " Orion " and heartless . Spock tells him that after all the years they have known each other , that he should know " Vulcan s " are " heartless , anatomically speaking " . Kirk and McCoy share a moment discussing what has just happened . The Moroni , Kirk says , showed the crew of the " Orion " how to feel compassion . And " " the slave trader who knows compassion . . . is a slave trader no longer ! " " McCoy then wonders to himself if Kirk has forgotten that Starfleet will give him a desk job upon his return , and concludes that Kirk simply can ' t bring himself to remember it . Memorable quotes . " " I ' m a captain without a ship . . . about as much use on land as a referee at a lover ' s quarrel . " " " " Why is it all starship engineers – even aliens – talk with a Scottish brogue ? " " " " Morbus , you ' re scum ! " " Background information . As with Conway ' s prior two outings , this one deals with the theme of friends having to confront and fight each other because of circumstances . Admiral Yaramoto is drawn by Kulpa almost exactly the same way as Bob Myers drew his unnamed admiral , right down to the padded ring around the shoulder line of his Starfleet uniform . But he isn ' t smoking this time . Conway ' s having McCoy recall that he was mobilized back in is a welcome note of continuity that is not overplayed . However , the statement that Vulcans have no heart is inexplicable , except that perhaps Conway felt the joke was worth it . Kirk ' s confusion at the end was justified as well ; he did not have a handle on the situation at all until well after the " Orion " left Earth . Meaning that Spock allowed the slavers to leave orbit only to later chase them down . Although the Moroni could have requested that Spock do nothing , it is a questionable course of action . This is the third story arc in the comic strip to deal with slavery in and around the Federation .