| rdfs:comment | - The Enterprise is sent to answer a distress call from Ephrata IV, one of the Federation's most important research posts. Arriving and receiving no response to hails, Kirk, Spock, Sulu and security officer Ensign Fawzia Yaseen beam down only to find the post staff have been brainwashed into serving a fanatical religion, the Truth. The outpost has been taken over by the Crusaders, the militant religious order of the Ialatls who have come from another dimension.
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| abstract | - The Enterprise is sent to answer a distress call from Ephrata IV, one of the Federation's most important research posts. Arriving and receiving no response to hails, Kirk, Spock, Sulu and security officer Ensign Fawzia Yaseen beam down only to find the post staff have been brainwashed into serving a fanatical religion, the Truth. The outpost has been taken over by the Crusaders, the militant religious order of the Ialatls who have come from another dimension. The landing party are quickly captured but one of the Crusaders, Maxah, is a member of a resistance group. He palms Kirk and Spock a phaser before they are transported through a dimensional portal to Ialat and saves Sulu and Yaseen from undergoing the same brainwashing procedure as the researchers. He then tricks the Enterprise into beaming him aboard but is unable to convince them to leave orbit, resulting in them being captured by a gravity cannon that holds them in place. Scotty is injured during an attempt to break free, leaving Uhura in command. Kirk and Spock are met by Vlisora, the consort of the world's God-King Jaenab. However, she turns out to be a member of the resistance. She explains that until recently the Truth was a peaceful religion with most administration left in the hand of secular authorities. However, the opening of the portal to other universes shocked them with the discovery of life unaware of the Truth. Alone in their universe and with no cultural diversity, the Ialatls saw this as a sign of a coming apocalypse, turning away from any part of their culture that contradicted the Truth and seeing it as their duty to forcibly convert the new universe. Sulu and Yaseen attempt acts of sabotage but are captured. Yaseen is brainwashed and the local Crusader leader, Sokis, threatens Sulu with death unless Uhura hands the Enterprise over. Maxah helps Uhura jam the control signal, freeing those who have been brainwashed. Weaponless and outnumbered, the Crusaders are easily overpowered and the gravity cannon destroyed. Kirk and Spock try to destroy the portal but, wanting a confrontation with her husband, Vlisora allows Kirk to be captured. Kirk challenges Jaenab to a trial by ordeal, consisting of a zero-gravity ball game. Kirk bends the rules as far as he can, causing Jaenab to be injured by a contracting hoop, but Jaenab still refuses to submit. However, Spock and Vlisora manage to retrieve the helmet Jaenab uses to give his people telepathic instructions. Spock uses it to mind meld with Jaenab, presenting him with evidence that different cultures can co-exist by using his own childhood as an example through his memories of Sarek and Amanda Grayson. His belief shaken, Jaenab calls off the Crusade, entering into seclusion and leaving Vlisora to rule in his stead. Once everyone is returned to their own dimension, the portals are dismantled until the Ialatls are ready to accept other races' existence.
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