Year Four , Issue 1 Summary . As the " Enterprise " travels through space , she encounters a strange series of planets , arranged to look like a strand of DNA floating through space . Spock reports to Kirk that he detects about twenty life signs , but suggests that the entire structure could have supported more than 800 billion in the past . A small away team made up of Kirk , Spock , Dr . McCoy , and a security officer , Ensign Alonzo beams down to the surface . Kirk orders Alonzo to keep watch while the other three prepare enter the complex . Just as they are about to enter , a man steps out and introduces himself as Dr . Othello Beck and welcomes them to " The Strand " . McCoy recognizes him as one of the greatest medical minds of the era . Beck tells them that the planetary collective came together over a thousand years ago and that they were " " scientifically advanced , but socially aggressive . " " They destroyed themselves , but left a laboratory that might be the greatest in the galaxy . Beck then introduces them to a woman he calls Una , and tells Spock that she is his daughter , but not by blood . She is a B ' Nai he created , and his favorite . Outside , Alonzo is attacked by a wolf - like creature . The rest of the team races out and Kirk fires his phaser at it , killing it . But they are too late . Alonzo is dead . Beck states that he ' s tried to suppress the predatory genes , but that won ' t bring Kirk ' s man back . Spock beams up to the " Enterprise " to brief the crew while McCoy and Kirk stay to investigate . In the laboratory , Beck asks McCoy if he has visited Bajor , a beautiful world . It was there that he heard of The Strand , " " a God - like place where sickness had been eradicated ! " " He devoted his life to finding it , but found only an abandoned string of worlds . McCoy notes that the Federation would benefit from the data , but Beck insists that they will get nothing until he is ready . On board the " Enterprise " , Spock learns about Beck ' s past and discovers that he is attempting to cure his wife of Logan ' s disease . Later that night , Kirk discovers the same thing when he comes across Beck ' s dying wife , who asks him to kill her . Before he can do anything , he is clubbed unconscious from behind by Una . At the same time , back in the lab , one of Beck ' s assistants drops a beaker , ruining months of work . Beck has no hesitation in killing him and tells McCoy not to meddle in his affairs . As this all takes place , the " Enterprise " comes under attack by missiles fired from several of the planets at once , old nuclear weapons . They fire back and there is an enormous explosion as the missiles explode , filling the region with radiation . It forces them to move away from the area to avoid the hazard . McCoy and Kirk wake up , locked in a cell , but unguarded . Their communicators and phasers outside . Kirk reaches into his boot , pulls out a small phaser and blasts the door open . They get out and discover Beck and all of the B ' Nai dead from phaser fire . The pair beam up to the ship , relay the details of the discovery to Starfleet and continue on their way . Memorable quotes . " " He ' s dead , Jim . " " " " When did you start keeping a spare phaser in your boot ? " " " " You get knocked out and thrown in a cell enough , you start to take precautions . " " " " To move forward , man ' s reach must always exceed his grasp . . . but he must also acknowledge his limitations , or else his pride will blind him . " "