Husian Gambit This summary is of a story arc from the newspaper comic strip " Star Trek " . The crews of the " Enterprise " and the " Venture " are enslaved by Husians during maintenance repairs on their ships at the aliens ' station . Summary . Dr . McCoy diagnoses the crew as being " bored " after numerous fights , operational errors , and minor practical jokes have plagued the ship . He recommends shore leave , and Kirk agrees to allow it at HUS - 24 , where the ship will be putting in for its biannual maintenance work . Also at the space station , undergoing similar work , is an old - style ship the USS " Venture " , commanded by the famous Morgan Avery . Avery invites the command crew to dinner , during which it comes out that HUS - 24 is a very dull place , having " no original science , art , music , or literature . " The crew takes shore leave anyway , and create their own fun with game s , singing , and alcohol stills ( which Scotty volunteers to test ) . Kirk becomes bothered that the " Venture " crew is finishing its maintenance work faster than his own , almost as much as Spock is bothered by Hathoz ' s ( the " Venture " s Executive and Science Officer ) belief that he could win a game of tri - dimensional chess against Spock . Avery is cagey as to why her work is going so quickly , and Kirk eventually finds out it is because of the Husians helping . The gets them to help , too . McCoy and Kirk then have a chat in which each angrily accuses the other of spending an inordinate amount of time with women from the " Venture " : Kirk with Avery and McCoy with Dr . Wu . Maintenance completed , Kirk and Spock settle accounts with the dockmaster , but are stunned by a phaser before they can leave . They awake to find themselves on the planet ' s surface with large metal collars linked by chains around their necks and the Husians saying the ships ' crews will remain there as slave s . The Husians ' plan is to fake their deaths to Starfleet and steal their ships . Everyone is down there , and a Husian " spiritual leader " separates the crews : men to mine , women to farm . Fortunately , Lt . Tulb of the " Venture " is a Distosian , with no skull and a brain in his thorax . When the Husians threaten to kill the crew if they do not tell them the code to unlock the helm of the ship , Tulb squeezes his head through the collar . He attacks a guard , gets a phaser rifle , and shoots at the Husians ( who are very poor shots ) . Tulb kills one guard who is firing at him , but despite explicit orders from Kirk to kill a Husian who is running away and no longer offering resistance , Tulb refuses to fire and instead cuts the captives ' chains . After Kirk captures more Husians by bluffing them with an empty rifle , the men rig an ore train to carry the crewmen past a suspected ambush . They ram trucks the Husians have placed in their way but derail , resulting in another battle . Using phasers on overload as grenades , they engage in hand - to - hand combat while the Husians are stunned . Meanwhile , Avery has used her grandmother ' s earrings , which are " real glass " , to start a fire in the field . Uhura , a winner of the 100 - meter dash at the Pan - African games , runs to tell the others to escape , which they do under cover of smoke . The women find the men in battle and join the fight . The Husians are quickly overcome , and their leader Edrem is captured by Scotty . The ships leave dock , the entire Husian race will be placed on trial , and Spock ' s very long tri - dimensional chess game with Hathoz ends in a stalemate . Memorable quotes . " " No music , no honky - tonks , no blue sky . " "