Kirk introduces Captain Sulu to the bar known as “The Captain’s Table”, and they tell the story of their encounters with the Nykkus and the Anjiri. Kirk tells of their first encounter with these two reptilian species, when they rescue a group of them from a wrecked starship. He later hands them over to the Orions, but the Anjiri and Nykkus steal an Orion yacht, and Kirk tracks them back to their homeworld, which turns out to be an asteroid encrusted with the remains of numerous spaceships of various designs. Kirk strikes a deal with the female Anjiri, who appear to be the rulers, to the effect that if they do not pirate in Federation territory, the Federation will leave them alone. Sulu tells of the second encounter, soon after he had become captain of the Excelsior. A group of Nykkus males attack Deep Space 3 and the Excelsior to steal a collection of FL-70 reconnaissance ships. They escape with a few of them, along with Chekov (Sulu’s first officer) and some others from the Excelsior’s crew, as hostages. They plan to use the FL-70s to attack Elaphe Vulpina and obtain the secrets of the replicator technology that the Federation is working on. Chekov convinces them that it is the Klingons, not the Federation, who are developing replicators, so the Nykkus turn their attack on the Klingon research station at Kreth. Meanwhile, the Excelsior has rescued Chekov and the others, but the Excelsior itself has been disabled, and Kirk, with the Enterprise-A, has been called in to assist. The Enterprise continues on to the Klingon station, while Sulu proceeds in a shuttle to the Nykkus homeworld. There, Sulu finds that a breeding mistake has created the group of warlike and reckless Nykkus who have killed all the other Anjiri and Nykkus, except for a few females. The females convince Sulu to take them with him to bring the rebel males under control, and rebuild the population (the Nykkus and the Anjiri are actually variants of a single species). Meanwhile the Nykkus have captured the Klingon station and disabled the Enterprise, but Kirk and his crew, with some Klingon assistance, capture the rebel Nykkus. On arrival at the station, the females do bring the males into submission, but not before executing the leaders, and consequently satisfying Klingon honor. [Timeline: the first encounter was soon after Gary Mitchell died; the second encounter was around Stardate 8730.1, soon after Sulu took charge of the Excelsior. The story is told during the final stages of the Khitomer negotiations. The book also contains a brief biography of Kirk and Sulu.]