Kirk and Spock beam down and meet their host Amilar of the Pomplancian Bureau of Interstellar Affairs. They are then ushered in to meet the other attendees. The Klingon Empire is represented by Ambassador Koft and his aide K'tail who is first officer of the battle cruiser Avenger, The Romulans in attendance are Envoy Bendes and his aide Subaltern Rhuox. After some not-so-amiable banter, they drink a ceremonial toast with the local wine. Spock notices another human in the council chamber that he seems to recognize. The man explains that he is part of the Federation delegation and his name is Jack Sprat. Neither Kirk nor Spock knew of any other Federation representative, and are suspicious.

   The delegates then start speaking the unvarnished truth, unable to help themselves. They return to the topic at hand and the Klingons let slip that their claim to the planet is based on rumor and a landing by a drunken scout pilot. The Romulans volunteer that a wandering Romulan prospector laid claim to the planet supposedly, but may not have.

   All diplomacy is cast aside and they insult each other, as they can't keep from telling the truth. Spock then announces that Jack Sprat is really Coriolanus Quince, the infamous galactic troublemaker. He is a criminally naÔve inventor of undeniable motive, and he has caused several catastrophes in the past ten years while trying to help people with their problems. He admits that he is responsible for the rampant veracity as he planted his "clear" potion into the ceremonial wine making it act like truth serum.

   After some discussion, Kirk gives Quince some of the wine and he realizes that he was wrong. Because no one was hurt, he is let go since no actual crime was committed. The conference is postponed to a later date.

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This story appeared in the following packages:

Record 1

Record 3

Record 11

Record 16

Record 23

Notes:

• This story's title, "In Vino Veritas," is a Latin motto, which translates into "In wine is truth." The saying means that when persons are intoxicated they may say things that they wouldn't otherwise.
• This story had no narrator.
• Kirk indicates in this story that he has dealt with Klingon ambassador Koft before.
• In the story, troublemaker Coriolanus Quince uses the odd alias of Jack Sprat.
• Romulan envoy Bendes incorrectly refers to the Romulan home planet as Romula. In the original series, the twin homeworlds of the Romulan Empire were established to be Romulus and Remus.
• No read-a-long comic book was ever produced to accompany this story.
• This story incorrectly calls the Romulan Empire the Romulan Hegemony.
• Lieutenant Uhura was mentioned in this story, but was not heard.

STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The STAR TREK story records were produced by Peter Pan Records, and Power Records a Division of Peter Pan Industries.

Email: cdanhauser@yahoo.com