TREK TAROT

Prince of Pentacles    Cyrano Jones An ambitious and clever entrepreneur, Jones makes the mistake of selling adorable, harmless creatures on a space station where Khngons and Federation forces struggle over ownership of a planet. "The Trouble With Tribbles" is not only that they hate Klingons, but that they have insatiable appetites, even more insatiable reproductive drives, and very small brains...

Princess of Pentacles    Leila Kalomi A scientist who fell in love with Mr. Spock years earlier, Leila encounters him again when the Enterprise arrives at Omicron Ceti Three to check on the colony there. She exposes him to the spores which not only protect the inhabitants, but produce a euphoria-like state in all of those on "This Side of Paradise."

Queen of Pentacles    Miramanee When Kirk becomes amnesiac after hitting his head inside the Amerind Obelisk, he accepts the explanation that he must have come from the gods -- and must marry the daughter of the chief. He and Miramanee are very happy together in "The Paradise Syndrome" and conceive a child, but the skies darken as an asteroid approaches, and when Kirk cannot save her people, his bride pays the price.

King of Pentacles    Christopher Pike Trapped in a ravaged body at the start of "The Menagerie," Pike relives his earlier days as captain of the Enterprise when he was healthy and refused to bow even to the Talosian power of illusion. Spock risks his life to return his former captain to Talos 4, so that Pike may escape the limitations of his physical body and live in comfort. An illusory court-martial keeps Kirk distracted so that he may witness the past events first-hand.

Ace of Pentacles    The Planet Killer Also known as "The Doomsday Machine," this extra-galactic device progresses across the galaxy destroying planets and starships. Crazed by the loss of his crew to the machine, Commander Matt Decker sacrifices himself in an attempt to destroy it -- an attempt which, though unsuccessful, gives Kirk and Spock the clue they need to render the device inoperative.

Deuce of Pentacles    Dr. Adams and the Neural Neutralizer Summoned to a mental institution, Kirk is placed in grave danger by the sadistic director of the facility while Spock attempts to understand what has happened to him through the mind of an escaped inmate. "Dagger of the Mind" -- and the similar "Whom Gods Destroy" -- serve as reminders that technological interventions into the mind can have dire consequences even with the best intentions.

Three of Pentacles    The Providers "The Gamesters of Triskelion" live to gamble, and kidnap aliens from all over the galaxy for the purpose of betting on their skills as thralls in the arena. When Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov are taken by the Providers, the persistent Kirk makes a wager of his own to win the freedom of all the thralls.

Four of Pentacles    The Salt Vampire Otherwise known as "The Man Trap," this creature kills by removing all the salt in human bodies. At first Kirk and McCoy are uncertain of the relationship between the creature and Nancy Crater -- a former flame of McCoy's living on a mostly deserted planet -- but the truth sadly becomes apparent: the creature devoured the real Nancy, then took on her form to gain access to other humans.

Five of Pentacles    Tyree, Kirk, McCoy, Nona, and the Mugato "A Private Little War" breaks out when Kirk -- attacked by the Mugato and cured by the wife of his old friend Tyree -- is torn between loyalty to Starfleet, to his friend, to the desirable woman who saved his life, and to Tyree's people, who are being menaced by both the Klingons and the Federation through exposure to high-technology weapons, involving them in a war which is not theirs.

Six of Pentacles    Eminiar's War Room Kirk and his crew get "A Taste of Armageddon" when their ship is declared a casualty of Eminiar's generations-long war with Vendikar conducted entirely by computer. Once again Kirk is forced to reinterpret the Prime Directive, this time in order to put an end to a conflict that shows no signs of abating after hundreds of years; he destroys the computers which control the war and thus the society.

Seven of Pentacles    The Kelvans "By Any Other Name" the Kelvans, visitors from the Andromeda galaxy, require a ship in which to return home. They take over the Enterprise by reducing its crewmembers to their essential elements, stored in geometric-shaped figures which can easily be destroyed. But the Kelvans have to use human forms in order to make use of the ship, and the command crew uses their new bodies against them.

Eight of Pentacles    Ba'al and Followers The Enterprise introduces "The Apple" into an Eden where the people live simply and happily, but in perpetual servitude to a giant godlike creature that Kirk and Spock recognize to be a computer. The peace and pragmatism of this society are replaced by typical human problems such as leadership crises, jealousy...and love.

Nine of Pentacles    The Horta "The Devil in the Dark" has been menacing miners disrupting Federation interests, particularly since the miners started finding and destroying silicon balls in their tunnels. Only when Spock melds with the injured creature do the miners realize that the Horta has merely been protecting its young -- its eggs -- and that this rare silicon-based being who forms natural tunnels is willing to work with the miners to speed their access to the minerals they need.

Ten of Pentacles     Spock Playing Chess Kirk undergoes a "Court-Martial" when he is accused of having killed a crewman by prematurely jettisoning an escape pod. But Spock notices inconsistencies with the computer that have occurred since the incident, and when the Vulcan beats the computer at three-dimensional chess, he is able to prove that it has been tampered with -- and hence that Kirk is innocent, restoring the Enterprise family.