Lolani

Answering a distress call, the Enterprise finds a Tellarite ship adrift with three dead crew and one survivor: Lolani, a young Orion slave who says she cannot remember how they died. The evidence suggests two Tellarites fell in a firefight and her owner was stabbed in the throat, possibly with her own dagger. Lolani begs not to be handed to Zaminhon, the brutal trader who now claims her, but Commodore Gray orders Kirk to return her rather than risk war with the Orions. Desperate, Lolani turns her pheromones on Kirk and then appeals to Crewman Kenway, who has fallen for her, yet neither will break the rules for her. A mind meld with Spock reveals she killed two Tellarites by accident while defending herself, and her owner on purpose. Zaminhon arrives, and a tense diplomatic dinner collapses when he strikes Lolani for calling him a brute. Kirk offers to buy her freedom, Zaminhon refuses and leaves with her, and Kirk finally decides to defy Starfleet and give chase. Before Lolani can be beamed back, the Orion ship explodes, killing them both. A recording she left behind reveals she meant her sacrifice as an example to other Orion slaves, and Kenway takes leave to help her people, carrying her message with him.