- Cogley: Books, young man, books. Thousands of them. If time wasn't so important, I'd show you something. My library. Thousands of books.
- Captain James T. Kirk: And what would be the point?
- Cogley: This is where the law is, not in that homogenized, pasteurized, synthesized... . Do you want to know the law, the ancient concepts in their own language, learn the intent of the men who wrote them, from Moses to the tribunal of Alpha 3? Books.
- Captain James T. Kirk: You have to be either an obsessive crackpot who's escaped from his keeper, or Samuel T. Cogley, attorney at law.
- Cogley: You're right on both counts. Need a lawyer?
- Captain James T. Kirk: I'm afraid so.
- Mr. Spock: Lieutenant, I am half-Vulcanian. Vulcanians do not speculate. I speak from pure logic. If I let go of a hammer on a planet that has a positive gravity, I need not see it fall to know that it has in fact fallen.
- Cogley: Rights, sir, human rights! The Bible. The Code of Hammurabi, and of Justinian. The Magna Carta. The Constitution of the United States. The Fundamental Declarations of the Martian Colonies. The Statutes of Alpha III. Gentlemen - these documents all speak of rights. Rights of the accused to a trial by his peers, to be represented by counsel. The rights of cross-examination. But most importantly, the right to be confronted by the witnesses against him - a right to which my client's been denied.
- Areel Shaw: Your Honor, that is ridiculous. We've produced the witnesses in court. My learned opponent had the opportunity to see them, cross-examine them...
- Cogley: All but one. The most devastating witness against my client is not a human being, it's a machine. An information system. The computer log of the Enterprise. And I ask this court adjourn and reconvene aboard that vessel.
- Areel Shaw: I protest, Your Honor.
- Cogley: And I repeat! I speak of rights! A machine has none. A man must! My client has the right to face his accuser. And if you do not grant him that right, you have brought us down to the level of the machine. Indeed, you have elevated that machine above us. I ask that my motion be granted. And more than that, gentlemen, in the name of a humanity fading in the shadow of the machine, I demand it. I demand it!
- Dr. McCoy: If you have any doubt, that was indeed Captain James Kirk of the Enterprise.
- Areel Shaw: Yes, I know. Are you a friend of his?
- Dr. McCoy: In these trying times, one of the few. Doctor Leonard McCoy, and you?
- Areel Shaw: Areel Shaw, and I'm a friend, too. An old one.
- Dr. McCoy: All of my old friends look like doctors; all of his look like you.
- [Kirk has been accused of perjury]
- Captain James T. Kirk: I'm telling you, I was there, on the bridge. I know what happened. I know what I did.
- Portmaster Stone: It's in the transcript! And computer transcripts don't lie! Now, I'm telling you, Captain, either you accept a permanent ground assignment, or... the whole disciplinary weight of Starfleet Command is going to light right on your neck.
- Captain James T. Kirk: So that's the way we do it now? Sweep it under the rug, and me along with it? Not on your life. I intend to fight!
- Portmaster Stone: Then you draw a general court!
- Captain James T. Kirk: [vehemently] Draw it? I demand it, and right now, Commodore Stone, right now!
- Captain James T. Kirk: Areel. You still haven't told me how you know so much about what the prosecution's going to do.
- Areel Shaw: Because, Jim Kirk, my dear old love... I am the prosecution. And I have to do my very best to have you slapped down hard. Broken out of the service. In disgrace.
- Captain James T. Kirk: [finding his assigned quarters congested] What is all this?
- Cogley: I figure we'll be spendin' some time together, so I moved in.
- Captain James T. Kirk: [sarcastically, as he looks about at the piles of books around the room] I hope I'm not crowding you.
- Cogley: What's the matter? Don't you like books?
- Captain James T. Kirk: Oh, I like them fine. But a computer takes less space.
- Areel Shaw: [as all observe the viewing screen] If the court will notice, the log plainly shows the defendant's finger pressing the jettison button. The condition signal reads yellow alert. Not red alert, but simply yellow alert. When the pod containing Lt. Commander Finney was jettisoned, the emergency did not as yet exist.
- Captain James T. Kirk: But that's not the way it happened.
- Captain James T. Kirk: It's been... How long has it been?
- Areel Shaw: Four years, seven months and an odd number of days. Not that I'm counting.
- [Prosecutor Shaw interrupts the court computer from reading off the full list of Captain Kirk's commendations, awards, citations and honors]
- Areel Shaw: The prosecution concedes the inestimable record of Captain Kirk.
- Portmaster Stone: Mr. Cogley?
- Cogley: I wouldn't want to slow the wheels of progress. But then, on the other hand, I wouldn't want those wheels to run over my client in their unbridled haste.
- Portmaster Stone: Continue.
- [the computer continues reading off the accumulated merits of Captain Kirk]
- Cogley: [after only a few more of those] Stop! Now, I think that's enough. I wouldn't want to slow things up *too* much.
- Areel Shaw: Do you think it would cause a complete breakdown of discipline, if a lowly lieutenant kissed a starship captain on the bridge of his ship?
- Captain James T. Kirk: Let's try.
- [they kiss]
- Captain James T. Kirk: See, no change. Discipline goes on.
- Cogley: You did the right thing, but... would you do it again?
- Captain James T. Kirk: Given the same circumstances, I would do the same thing without hesitation. Because the steps I took, in the order I took them, were absolutely necessary, if I were to save my ship. And *nothing* is more important than my ship.
- Portmaster Stone: Now, look, Jim. Not one man in a million could do what you and I have done. Command a starship. A hundred decisions a day, hundreds of lives, staked on you making every one of them right. You're played out, Jim. Exhausted.
- Captain James T. Kirk: Is that the way you see it?
- Portmaster Stone: That's the way my report will read if you co-operate.
- Captain James T. Kirk: A physical breakdown, possibly even mental collapse.
- Portmaster Stone: Possibly.
- Captain James T. Kirk: I'd be admitting that a man died because...
- Portmaster Stone: Admit nothing. Say nothing. Let me bury the matter here and now. No starship captain has ever stood trial before, and I don't want you to be the first.
- Captain James T. Kirk: It's not all bad, Mr. Spock. Who knows, you may be able to beat your next captain at chess.
- [Kirk is giving an account of the events on the bridge that ultimately led to Finney's death]
- Portmaster Stone: Then why, Captain, does the computer log from your ship, made automatically at the time, indicate that you were still on yellow alert when you jettisoned, and not on red?
- Captain James T. Kirk: I don't know. There's been a mistake.
- Portmaster Stone: It would seem so. Could the computer be wrong?
- Captain James T. Kirk: Mr. Spock is running a survey right now; but the odds are next to impossible.
- Areel Shaw: Jim, be serious! You're not an ordinary human, you're a starship captain, and you've stepped into scandal. If there's any way they can do it, they'll slap you down, hard and permanently, for the good of the service.
- Areel Shaw: How long will it be this time before I see you again?
- Captain James T. Kirk: At the risk of sounding like a mystic, that depends on the stars.
- Captain James T. Kirk: Put the phaser down, Ben.
- Finney: Oh, I wouldn't kill you, Captain. Your own death would mean too little to you. But your ship...
- Captain James T. Kirk: What about my ship?
- Finney: It's dead. I've killed it.
- Captain James T. Kirk: Goodbye, Areel. Better luck next time.
- Areel Shaw: I had pretty good luck this time. I lost, didn't I?
- Finney: Officers and gentlemen, captains all! Except for Finney, and his *one* mistake! A long time ago, but they don't forget!