Star Trek: Log Nine (Vintage Paperback) by Alan Dean Foster

ANOTHER EXCITING EPISODE FROM TELEVISION'S MOST POPULAR SCIENCE FICTION SERIES

BEM
It seemed like such a simple request. The Pandronians had petitioned to send a representative to observe a Federation crew carrying out a survey mission... precisely the type of mission the Enterprise had just been assigned. What could go wrong?

So Commander Ari bn Bem joined Captain Kirk and his crew to evaluate aboriginal life forms of undetermined intelligence and accomplishment on the planet Delta Theta Three.
And that's when the trouble began...