James T. Kirk
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
- For the mirror universe counterpart, see James T. Kirk (mirror).
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| Gender: | Male |
| Species: | Human |
| Affiliation: | Federation Starfleet |
| Serial number: | SC937-0176CEC |
| Status: | Deceased |
| Born: | 22 March 2233 |
| Died: | 2293/2371 |
| Sibling(s): | George Samuel Kirk, brother |
| Martial Status: | Widower |
| Spouse(s): | Miramanee (Deceased: 2268) |
| Children: | One unborn child (Deceased: 2268) David Marcus (Deceased: 2285) |
| Other Relative(s): | Aurelan Kirk, sister-in-law (Deceased: 2267) Peter Kirk, nephew |
| Played by: | William Shatner |
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- "Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship because while you're there, you can make a difference."
- James T. Kirk, 2371
James Tiberius Kirk was arguably the most famous and highly-decorated starship captain in the history of the Federation Starfleet. Over the span of three decades in the later 23rd century, he commanded the Constitution-class starships USS Enterprise and USS Enterprise-A, serving Federation interests as an explorer, soldier, time-traveler, and diplomat.
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[edit] Early History
James Tiberius ("Jim") Kirk was a Human born on March 22nd, 2233 (Stardate 1277.1), in Iowa on the planet Earth. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Deadly Years"; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")
- See also: Ambiguities
In 2246, Kirk was living on planet Tarsus IV during a food crisis that was starving the colony of 8,000 people. Governor Kodos, sympathetic to old eugenics philosophies, tried to save a portion of his colony by killing the 4,000 colonists he deemed least desirable or able to survive. Kodos was unaware of the imminent arrival of relief ships. The thirteen-year-old Jim Kirk was one of only nine eyewitnesses to the massacre. (TOS: "The Conscience of the King")
[edit] Starfleet Academy
By 2250, Kirk had returned to Earth, ready to begin his Starfleet training. With some assistance from a man named Mallory, he was accepted into the Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. (TOS: "The Apple")
In his plebe year, Kirk was a participant in the successful peace mission to the planet Axanar. He was awarded the Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission. (TOS: "Court Martial", "Whom Gods Destroy")
Cadet Kirk soon caught the attention of a boisterous, bullying Irishman named Finnegan. The upperclassman evidently hazed "Jamie-boy" mercilessly throughout their shared time at the Academy. Sixteen years later, Kirk's antipathy for Finnegan was strong enough to be sensed by the Shore Leave Planet, which produced a simulacrum that Kirk could pummel for satisfaction. (TOS: "Shore Leave")
Kirk's academic studies introduced him to men he would encounter later in his career. Among his more prominent teachers was John Gill, the noted professor of history and cultural observer. Captain Garth of Izar's exploits were required reading for cadets, and the famous captain joined Kirk's pantheon of heroes. Another subject, the "Pasteur of archaeological medicine", Dr. Roger Korby, became a man Kirk wanted to meet. (TOS: "Patterns of Force", "Whom Gods Destroy", "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")
Kirk began a friendship with instructor Lieutenant Ben Finney that continued into their service together aboard the USS Republic. Kirk and underclassman Gary Mitchell became fast friends after Mitchell's admission to the Academy. Mitchell later served under Kirk as navigator aboard the USS Enterprise. (TOS: "Court Martial", "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
- See also: Friendships: Ben Finney, Gary Mitchell
During command training, Kirk confronted the Kobayashi Maru scenario, a simulation used to evaluate a student's reactions to a "no-win" battle and rescue situation. Kirk refused to accept his first two defeats. Before his third attempt, Kirk secretly reprogrammed the simulation computer, consequently becoming the only cadet in Academy history to beat the "no-win" scenario, and earning a commendation for original thinking. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
[edit] Junior Officer
Kirk was commissioned as an officer in the Federation Starfleet with the serial number SC937-0176CEC. In the early 2250s, he served as an ensign, along with his friend Lt. Ben Finney, aboard the USS Republic (NCC-1371). Finney made a mistake nearly catastrophic to the ship, and the incident was logged by Kirk, resulting in his friend's reprimand and fall to the bottom of the promotion list. (TOS: "Court Martial")
Upon graduating from the Academy, Kirk began service under Captain Garrovick. Kirk's first deep space assignment was as a lieutenant aboard Garrovick's USS Farragut (NCC-1647), serving as a tactical officer. (TOS: "Obsession")
As a young lieutenant in 2255, Kirk was assigned to command his first planetary survey mission, on Neural. Kirk met and befriended one of the planet's natives, the Hill man Tyree. His report described a primitive but promising culture, and Starfleet endorsed his recommended policy of non-interference. (TOS: "A Private Little War")
The Farragut engaged the dikironium cloud creature at planet Tycho IV in 2257. Captain Garrovick and 200 of the ship's crew were killed by the creature. Farragut's record tapes of the event included Lieutenant Kirk insisting upon blaming himself for the disaster, citing his delay in firing the ship's phaser banks at the creature as he lost consciousness. The Farragut's executive officer disagreed, stating, "Lieutenant Kirk is a fine young officer who performed with uncommon bravery." (TOS: "Obsession")
- See also: Ambiguities
[edit] Ancestry
Kirk was a descendant of European settlers on Earth's American continent, who pioneered the western frontiers of the United States in 19th century. (TOS: "Spectre of the Gun")
[edit] The USS Enterprise and her five-year mission
Kirk's Starfleet service through the late 2250s and early 2260s was rewarded with a rapid rise through the ranks. At 31 years of age in 2264, he was promoted to Captain. Not only the youngest captain in the fleet's history at that time, Kirk was slated to command one of the twelve Constitution-class starships, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).
Kirk famously commanded the Enterprise and her namesake over the course of three decades, but it was her historic five-year mission from 2265 to 2270 that made him a legend in space exploration. In addition to his overall mission statement, "to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, etc.", Kirk received standing orders to investigate all quasars, and quasar-like phenomena. Kirk's living quarters aboard the Enterprise were on Deck 5, room "3F 121". (VOY: "Q2"; TOS: "The Galileo Seven", "Journey to Babel") During this historic mission, Kirk would violate the Prime Directive on at least one occasion in order to ensure the survival of the Pelosian race. Years prior to this, Kirk also prevented the extinction of the Baezians and the Chenari. (VOY: "Q2")
[edit] 2265
Kirk's first major step, attempting an extra-galactic probe in 2265, proved to be a disaster. Discovering a recorder-marker from the SS Valiant that described a catastrophic disaster following a visit to the galaxy's edge, Kirk pushed on, and encountered the galactic barrier for his first time. The Enterprise failed to breach the barrier, and barely escaped destruction. With warp engines badly damaged, Enterprise limped under impulse power towards the Delta Vega lithium cracking station. Kirk's helmsman, his best friend Gary Mitchell, began a transformation triggered by the barrier, developing psychic powers that progressed rapidly, with a commensurate loss of his Humanity. Ignoring Spock's advice to destroy Mitchell immediately, Kirk hesitated until after Mitchell killed navigator Lee Kelso. On the surface of Delta Vega, Kirk hunted Mitchell, only able to kill him with the help of another officer undergoing the same transformation as Mitchell, Dr. Elizabeth Dehner. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
Following the tragedy, Kirk re-shuffled the Enterprise's command crew. Lieutenant Commander Spock, a legacy-officer from the former commander, Captain Christopher Pike, remained Science officer and Kirk acknowledged him as First officer. A new chief medical officer, Dr. Leonard McCoy replaced Dr. Mark Piper. Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott remained chief engineer. Lieutenant Uhura became communications officer and Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu was transferred to the helm. Kirk did not settle on a regular navigator for another year.
[edit] 2266
On stardate 1512.2, Kirk made first contact with the First Federation, when the Enterprise was detained by Captain Balok and his massive spaceship Fesarius. Both captains bluffed ferociously, but Kirk's poker-face held. Balok proved to be quite friendly, eager to begin a cultural exchange. On 1533.6, Kirk and his crew made a brief first contact with the uncanny Thasians. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver", "Charlie X") During his encounter with Charlie Evans, (TOS: "Charlie X") Kirk showed his judo prowess as well as his deep-rooted compassion when Charlie's "teachers" wanted to take him back to his isolated existence.
Kirk repelled the first Romulan incursion of Federation space in over a century, on stardate 1709.2. Four Earth Outpost Stations along the Romulan Neutral Zone were destroyed by a Romulan Bird-of-Prey equipped with a cloak and a powerful plasma torpedo system. Kirk engaged and pursued the Romulan ship, disabling it before the Romulan commander ordered his ship's self-destruction. Kirk and his bridge crew became the first Starfleet officers to make visual contact with a Romulan, finally revealing their appearance to Starfleet. (TOS: "Balance of Terror")
Enterprise reached Exo III on stardate 2712.4; where Dr. Roger Korby was found after years of silence, exploring and exploiting a sophisticated android manufacturing technology – the legacy of a long-dead civilization. Korby had replaced his own damaged body, transplanting his personality into an android replica, and built himself a beautiful companion, Andrea. After exhibiting madness, the android Korby was destroyed. (TOS: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?")
On stardate 2817.6, Kirk responded to the call of Thomas Leighton, a fellow survivor and witness to the horror of Tarsus IV. Leighton suspected the leader of a traveling theater troupe, actor Anton Karidian, of being Kodos "the Executioner", a man long thought dead. After Leighton's murder and the revelation of other witnesses' deaths, Kirk convinced Lenore Karidian to bring the acting troupe aboard Enterprise. Attempted murders of Kirk and Enterprise crewmember Kevin Riley (another survivor) led Kirk to confront Karidian/Kodos, discovering the recent killings were the acts of his mad daughter, trying to protect her tormented aging father. (TOS: "The Conscience of the King")
Kirk's command was jeopardized by Spock when he kidnapped his horribly crippled former commander, Fleet Captain Christopher Pike, and commandeered the Enterprise. Spock locked the ship on course to Talos IV before submitting to a tribunal of Kirk, Pike, and Commodore Mendez. Spock's crimes were in violation of General Order 7 and punishable by death. After Spock's ultimate goal was revealed, to allow Pike, a Starfleet hero, to live a semblance of normality under Talosian illusion, Starfleet declined to prosecute the matter. (TOS: "The Menagerie, Part I", "The Menagerie, Part II")
When the Enterprise passed through the Omicron Delta region, Kirk hoped to get his crew (and himself) some badly needed shore leave. While Kirk and his landing party investigated a hopeful candidate world, they were beset with manifestations of their hidden desires. In fact, they had discovered the Shore Leave Planet, and the advanced technologies left behind by an ancient, enigmatic species. (TOS: "Shore Leave")
[edit] 2267
Kirk became the first Federation starship captain to ever face a court martial, after he was accused of causing the death of Lt. Commander Ben Finney, the Enterprise records officer. Kirk employed the defense attorney Samuel T. Cogley, and was prosecuted by his former flame Areel Shaw at his trial on Starbase 11, convened by Commodore Stone. Kirk was exonerated after Finney was discovered alive, having faked both his death and the evidence implicating Kirk. (TOS: "Court Martial")
On 2124.5, the Enterprise was waylaid by a being calling himself "General Trelane (retired), the Squire of Gothos". Though immensely powerful and troublesome, Trelane was revealed to be nothing more than a child of his species, and a badly-behaved one at that.
Kirk made first contact with the Gorn Hegemony and the Metrons on stardate 3045.6. Finding the Federation base on Cestus III destroyed, and Gorn forces lying in wait, Kirk ordered the Enterprise to give chase to Gorn starship responsible, intending to destroy it. The pursuit took the two belligerents through Metron space. The Metrons, pacifistic but powerful, interrupted the engagement and declared both sides were savages. Kirk and the Gorn captain were taken from their respective ships to a desolate planetoid by the Metrons, who forced the two captains to fight each other, threatening to destroy the loser's vessel. Kirk was victorious, but refused to kill the Gorn. The Metrons were impressed by Kirk's act of mercy and allowed both ships to go free. (TOS: "Arena")
The Enterprise discovered the SS Botany Bay on 3141.9. The ancient vessel carried a group of genetically-engineered Augments from Earth's Eugenics Wars, kept alive in cryogenic freeze. Their leader, Khan Noonien Singh, seduced the Enterprise ship historian Lieutenant Marla McGivers, revived his comrades, and attempted to steal the starship – before he was foiled by Kirk. Somewhat respectful of Khan's integrity and abilities, Kirk exiled Khan and his people on planet Ceti Alpha V, where the former tyrant would have a chance to "tame a world" without threatening others. (TOS: "Space Seed")
On 3192.1, the Enterprise was caught up in a 'civilized' interplanetary war between Eminiar VII and Vendikar, whose engagements were fought only by computers, and marked 'casualties' among the citizenry dutifully reported to death chambers. After the Enterprise was declared a target and the crew ordered to die, Kirk destroyed the Eminiar computers, forcing them to finally treat with their enemy – or face a war that would destroy their civilization. (TOS: "A Taste of Armageddon")
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy discovered the first known silicon-based lifeform, a sentient Horta matriarch, on the mining colony Janus VI on stardate 3196.1. (TOS: "The Devil in the Dark")
At the start of the first Federation-Klingon War, Kirk and Spock attempted to convince the apparently-primitive Organians to accept Federation protection. When Kirk and Spock began conducting a guerrilla war against the Klingon occupation, Organians abandoned their false humanoid forms and intervened, forcing an end to the interstellar war, imposing the Treaty of Organia. Organians predicted that, in time, the antagonistic powers would eventually become friends. (TOS: "Errand of Mercy")
Responding to the recent silence from the Deneva colony, Kirk found that his brother, George Samuel Kirk, had been killed by a hive-mind of marauding neural parasites and that the colony's remaining population was under their influence, causing mass insanity. McCoy and Spock were able to develop a method of killing the exotic creatures. (TOS: "Operation -- Annihilate!")
By this time in 2267, Kirk had finally settled on Ensign Pavel Chekov as the Enterprise's regular navigator, the post once held by Gary Mitchell. (TOS: "Catspaw", "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
Kirk diverted the Enterprise from an assigned ceremonial mission on Altair IV to Vulcan on stardate 3372.7, in order to save his first officer from the dangerous effects of his pon farr mating cycle. In the presence of the Vulcan Matriarch, T'Pau, Kirk was forced to participate in Spock's marriage ceremony. (TOS: "Amok Time")
A transporter malfunction swapped the Enterprise landing party with a corresponding landing party from a parallel "Mirror Universe", where the United Federation of Planets had been replaced with a savage, oppressive, Terran Empire. The ISS Enterprise was captained by a sadistic alternate version of Captain Kirk, whose first officer was a ruthless, bearded Spock. (TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")
A distress call led the Enterprise to the crippled USS Constellation, nearly destroyed by an ancient planet killer deemed a Doomsday machine. After the unbalanced Commodore Matthew Decker made a suicide run with a stolen shuttlecraft, Kirk piloted the Constellation inside the machine, detonating the engines and destroying the device. (TOS: "The Doomsday Machine")
Kirk, Spock and McCoy discovered Zefram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive, missing for 150 years, on a planetoid, kept alive and young by the Companion energy being. At Cochrane's request, Kirk did not log the encounter. (TOS: "Metamorphosis")
While visiting a Federation science colony on Gamma Hydra IV, the strange radiation from a rogue comet affected Kirk and members of his party, causing rapid aging. Kirk's accelerated dotage forced the visiting Commodore Stocker to relieve Kirk from command of the Enterprise until a cure was discovered by Dr. McCoy. (TOS: "The Deadly Years")
[edit] 2268
On stardate 4523.6, the Enterprise was dispatched to Deep Space Station K-7, where Kirk's patience was tested by Klingons, Federation bureaucrats, and the cuddly but prodigious vermin, tribbles. Unknown to Kirk, his actions were observed and facilitated by Benjamin Sisko and the crew of the USS Defiant, brought from the 24th century via a Bajoran Orb; Sisko even got Kirk's autograph (although Kirk thought he was signing a shipping order) and told Kirk that it had been an honor to serve with him. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles"; DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
Kirk found the contaminated society of Sigma Iotia II, based on 1920s Chicago gang culture, puzzling at first, but he quickly warmed to it. Uniting the world's "gangs" under one "boss", the Iotians became a Federation protectorate. (TOS: "A Piece of the Action")
Kirk returned to Neural, the site of his first Starfleet assignment, on stardate 4211.4. Klingons had begun supplying the primitive native villagers with firearms, leading them to war on the neighboring Hill People. Kirk decided to supply the hill people with similar weaponry, escalating the conflict, but putting both sides on equal footing. (TOS: "A Private Little War")
After John Gill's failure to report in from his cultural observation mission to Ekos, the Enterprise was assigned to investigate. Kirk found his old professor had developed an idealization of Utopian fascism and had abandoned observation for intervention, creating a Nazi-like world government that overwhelmed Gill's best intentions. Kirk aroused the subverted Gill in time to avert Ekos' impending war with neighboring Zeon, and heard Gill recant his philosophies before he died. (TOS: "Patterns of Force")
Scouts from the Kelvan Empire in the Andromeda Galaxy hijacked the Enterprise for their return voyage on stardate 4657.5. The Enterprise, modified with Kelvan technology, became the first Federation starship known to cross the galactic barrier, briefly leaving the boundary of the Milky Way Galaxy before Kirk and his senior officers overwhelmed the Kelvans and returned to Federation space. (TOS: "By Any Other Name")
Inexplicably to his crew, Kirk began exhibiting bizarre behavior on stardate 5027.3, and ordered the Enterprise across the Romulan Neutral Zone . Three Romulan starships detained the Enterprise, and Kirk and Spock met the Romulan commander aboard her ship, where Kirk's death was faked. The ruse allowed Kirk, surgically altered to look Romulan, to infiltrate the Romulan vessel and steal their cloaking device. Using the device, the Enterprise cloaked and escaped to Federation space, taking along the captured Romulan Commander. The entire operation had been designed to give the Federation deniability in case of failure, and place the culpability on Kirk. (TOS: "The Enterprise Incident")
On 4842.6, the Enterprise discovered the Amerind planet, where an ancient race, the "Preservers", had transplanted elements of Native American cultures that were endangered in centuries past. When an accident separated Kirk from the landing party and induced his amnesia, Spock was forced to abandon the search, in order to command the Enterprise in the interception of an asteroid on course to hit the planet. For several months, Kirk was worshiped as a god called "Kirok" by the inhabitants, and took a wife. With the return of the Enterprise and the restoration of his memories, Kirk was able to activate an ancient planetary defense mechanism left behind by the Preservers, destroying the approaching asteroid. (TOS: "The Paradise Syndrome")
Near Tholian space on stardate 5693.2, the Enterprise discovered the USS Defiant, adrift and its crew dead, trapped in a spatial interphase. Tholian commander Loskene responded to the trespass of 'recently annexed' Tholian space. Kirk was lost in the interphase and presumed dead. The Enterprise exchanged fire with the Tholians, and the unstable region incited madness among the crew. A second Tholian vessel joined the engagement, producing a web to ensnare the Enterprise. After various crew members witnessed Kirk's spectral image, he was retrieved from interphase, and the Enterprise used the rift to escape Tholian entrapment. (TOS: "The Tholian Web")
[edit] 2269
Enterprise visited the Federation asylum on Elba II on stardate 5718.3, where Kirk's longtime-hero, Fleet Captain Garth of Izar was committed as a patient. Garth, capable of cellular metamorphosis, attempted to escape and commandeer the Enterprise by assuming the visage of Kirk. Spock was able to determine which man was truly his captain, and Garth was returned to rehabilitation. (TOS: "Whom Gods Destroy")
On stardate 5725.3, the Enterprise encountered a community of non-corporeal energy beings embodying the souls of the last 100 Zetarans. Seeking lifeforms that would allow them to live again, they killed the custodians of Memory Alpha, wiping the Federation's central archive of accumulated knowledge. (TOS: "The Lights of Zetar")
A deadly plague struck the crew of the Enterprise before stardate 5843.7. Seeking a cure on Holberg 917G, Kirk encountered Flint, a near-immortal Human. Born as Akharin, during Earth's 4th millennium BC in Mesopotamia, Flint had later been known as Solomon, Alexander the Great and Leonardo da Vinci, among other famous identities. Kirk fell in love with Rayna Kapec, an android built by Flint to give him company in his final days of seclusion. A century later, Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager expressed some doubt about this encounter. (TOS: "Requiem for Methuselah"; VOY: "Concerning Flight")
The Enterprise was greeted by an incredibly realistic simulacrum of Kirk's hero, the United States President Abraham Lincoln, on stardate 5906.4. On the surface of the planet Excalbia, a silicon-based Excalbian re-created the historical figures Surak, Genghis Khan, Phillip Green, Kahless and Zora. Kirk, Spock, Lincoln and Surak were pitted against the others as means for the Excalbians to understand the nature and strength of good versus evil. (TOS: "The Savage Curtain")
[edit] 2270
After the freighter USS Huron was attacked and looted, the starship Enterprise captured the Orion vessel responsible. The incident marked the end of Orion's official neutrality. (TAS: "The Pirates of Orion")
The Enterprise encountered Kukulkan on stardate 6063.4. The benevolent alien being had periodically visited ancient Earth civilizations and influenced their architecture and agricultural development. Kukulkan revealed that he had visited the Egyptian, Mayan and Aztec cultures, where he was taken for a god. (TAS: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth")
Reaching the end of her five-year deployment in 2270, Kirk ordered the Enterprise set on a course returning her to Earth. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture; VOY: "Q2")
[edit] Time travels
Several of Kirk's voyages involved travel through time, either personally through time portals or along with the entire starship Enterprise via acceleration through gravity wells. According to the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations, Kirk, who sometimes ignored regulations when he felt it was for the greater good, amassed seventeen separate temporal violations during his career, more than any other person on file as of 2373. (DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
Observing planet Psi 2000 in its death throes of 2266, the Enterprise was endangered after the engines were shut down and she began to fall from orbit. An emergency cold-restart of the engines to escape the planet's gravity threw the ship three days into the past. (TOS: "The Naked Time")
In 2267, after escaping the gravity well of a black star, the Enterprise was hurled through space and time to Earth of 1969. As the Enterprise skimmed the upper atmosphere, the United States Air Force scrambled an F-104 Starfighter jet to intercept the Enterprise, now considered a UFO. The pilot, John Christopher, was brought aboard, and the plane crushed, unintentionally, in the ship's tractor beam. Kirk and Sulu beamed down to the Omaha, Nebraska military base to destroy photographic evidence of the Enterprise's appearance. A method developed to return to their own time, warping around the sun's gravity well in a slingshot maneuver, allowed Christopher's replacement before his close-encounter and the return of the Enterprise to her own time. (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday")
In 2267, after experiencing violent time distortions, the Enterprise discovered the source, the Guardian of Forever. McCoy, delusional from an accidental cordrazine overdose, entered the time portal, altering history to the extent that the Federation and the Enterprise no longer existed. Kirk and Spock followed McCoy, appearing in 1930 New York City on Earth. Finding shelter in exchange for work, Kirk fell in love with his beautiful, idealistic benefactor, Edith Keeler. Spock discovered that history's recorded death of Keeler was stopped by McCoy, and Kirk was forced to restrain the doctor from saving her life, the price for restoring the timeline. (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")
In 2268, Kirk was ordered to repeat the recently proven slingshot maneuver, taking the Enterprise back to 1968 on a mission of historical observation. Intercepting the enigmatic agent Gary Seven, Kirk attempted to stop his interference, but eventually cooperated with Seven's effort to avert a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. (TOS: "Assignment: Earth")
A visit to the planet Sarpeidon, doomed by its sun's impending nova, revealed that the Sarpeidans had escaped en masse into their own planet's past via their Atavachron time portal. The harried and ubiquitous Atoz mistook Kirk, Spock, and McCoy for tardy natives, and he thrust them into the planet's past. (TOS: "All Our Yesterdays")
Kirk and Spock used the Guardian of Forever a second time in 2269, on a mission of historical observation to the dawn of Orion civilization. Upon their return, no-one but Kirk recognized Spock as the Enterprise First officer. Supposedly killed in his childhood, Spock returned to the Vulcan of his youth, playing the role of the nearly forgotten cousin that had saved his life during the kahs-wan, a Vulcan coming-of-age ordeal. (TAS: "Yesteryear")
- See also: The Whale Probe crisis, The Nexus
[edit] Later Career
The USS Enterprise returned to Earth in 2270. Kirk's successful mission resulted in his promotion to rear admiral and a posting as Chief of Starfleet Operations at Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco for the following two and a half years. Kirk recommended Willard Decker to replace him as Enterprise captain while the ship underwent an extensive refit at the San Francisco Fleet Yards. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
In the early 2270s, Earth was threatened by the approaching entity V'Ger, an energy cloud assimilating information from (and destroying) objects in its path. The only starship positioned to intercept it was the Enterprise, her refit nearly complete but still awaiting trial runs. After convincing Admiral Nogura that he was the best man to meet the threat, Kirk rushed the Enterprise into service, assuming the rank of captain for the duration of the mission. Decker regarded Kirk's command as an insult and a mistake, and pointed to his recent desk service and unfamiliarity with the ship's new systems, but the younger man fulfilled his duty as First officer. The entity proved to be the 20th century NASA space probe Voyager VI, having amassed great power and self-awareness in its travels. Kirk granted Decker's wish to merge with the V'Ger entity through the simulacrum of his lover Ilia, thereby uniting V'Ger's mechanical nature with its Human origins. The union resulted in the birth of a radically new, and benign, lifeform. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
Admiral Kirk kept his flag on the Enterprise, commanding her through the 2270s. Kirk retired from Starfleet (albeit briefly) in 2281 to pursue a number of personal goals and affairs. (Star Trek Generations)
- See also: Ambiguities
[edit] The wrath and wake of Khan
Kirk returned to Starfleet in 2284 and took a position in the admiralty, supervising command-track cadets at Starfleet Academy among his duties. The lack of a center seat gnawed at him, until he began to express discontent in his latest posting. If only for the chance to be back in space on his beloved former ship, he eagerly boarded the Enterprise, now commanded by Captain Spock, as an observer to a cadet training cruise.
Khan Noonien Singh escaped from his exile on Ceti Alpha V by hijacking the USS Reliant, leading to his theft of the Genesis Device from the Regula I space station. Alerted by a call from Dr. Carol Marcus, Enterprise changed course to investigate, and Spock deferred his command to Admiral Kirk. The subsequent engagement with his old enemy was tumultuous for Kirk, including a meeting with his estranged son, David Marcus, and the death of his friend of twenty years, Spock. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)
Kirk's return to Earth in 2285 was solemn. The loss of Spock affected Kirk deeply, and McCoy began to show signs of mental illness. Planning to return to the Genesis Planet after his battle-damaged starship was fully repaired, Kirk's hopes were dashed when Commander, Starfleet Admiral Morrow announced that the Enterprise would be decommissioned. Ambassador Sarek approached Kirk, leading to the discovery of Spock's katra surviving in McCoy. Kirk's senior officers rallied to him, conspiring to rescue McCoy and steal the Enterprise from Earth Spacedock in order to recover Spock's body from the Genesis planet and to bring it, and his katra, to Vulcan. At the Genesis planet, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey's attack left the Enterprise disabled. After setting an auto-destruct sequence, Kirk and his crew abandoned the ship for the surface. The Enterprise was destroyed, taking a Klingon boarding party along with it. Finding Spock's body reanimated by Genesis, Kirk took the Bird-of-Prey to Vulcan, where Spock's katra and body were reunited. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock)
After three months on Vulcan, Kirk and his crew departed (aboard the Bird-of-Prey re-named HMS Bounty) for Earth, to face their charges of violating nine Starfleet General orders and regulations. During the voyage, a mysterious probe besieged Earth and communicated only in Whale song. After answering the planetary distress signal and determining the probe's objective, Kirk used the slingshot effect to take the Bounty back in time to 1986 San Francisco. With the help of cetacean biologist Dr. Gillian Taylor, Kirk successfully obtained the humpback whales George and Gracie and returned with them to 2286. By providing the whales that could answer the probe's query, Kirk redeemed Humanity's extinction of a sentient species, and saved Earth from an environmental catastrophe. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
[edit] The USS Enterprise-A
Following the whale probe incident, the Federation President declared to Kirk, "we are forever in your debt". In light of their recent heroics, all charges facing his crew were dismissed, but one remained against Admiral Kirk: disobeying the orders of a superior officer. Kirk's 'punishment' was a permanent reduction in rank to captain and a return to the duty that had served the Federation so well, starship command. In his honor, a Constitution-class starship was re-christened as the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A), and assigned to Kirk in 2286. He commanded the Enterprise-A for the next seven years. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
After a brief shakedown cruise proved the Enterprise-A wasn't quite up to par, Kirk vacationed in Yosemite National Park with Spock and McCoy, while Montgomery Scott attended to the technical problems. The respite was interrupted after Spock's half-brother, Sybok, raised a small force to take over the planet Nimbus III and captured the Federation, Klingon and Romulan representatives. Kirk and the Enterprise-A responded. Most of Kirk's crew fell under Sybok's influence and joined in his quest to meet "God", by taking the starship through the Great Barrier to the legendary planet Sha Ka Ree. The entity they encountered proved to be a malevolent force, imprisoned and looking for release. Sybok joined the entity in combat, permitting the Enterprise-A to escape. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
Kirk's career culminated in 2293, when the Enterprise-A was assigned to escort the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon to Earth for a peace conference. Kirk opposed the peace initiative covertly negotiated by Spock, and especially resented that he was chosen to be the Federation's olive branch. A cabal of Federation and Klingon officials instigated an attack on IKS Kronos One that appeared to come from the Enterprise-A, and assassinated Gorkon. Kirk and McCoy were arrested by the Klingons, who tried and convicted them for the murder of Gorkon, sentencing them to the Rura Penthe penal asteroid. In violation of orders and treaties, Spock took the Enterprise-A into Klingon space, eluded detection and rescued Kirk and McCoy. Following his victory over General Chang at the Battle of Khitomer, Kirk saved the Federation president from assassination, and the historic Khitomer Conference continued.
After a final joy-ride on the heading "second star to the right, and straight on 'til morning", the Enterprise-A was decommissioned, and Kirk retired permanently from Starfleet. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
[edit] The Nexus
Shortly after retirement, Kirk joined his friends Montgomery Scott and Pavel Chekov as the honored guests of Captain John Harriman on the maiden voyage of the Excelsior-class starship USS Enterprise-B. The event, featuring a media frenzy surrounding Kirk, was little more than a ceremonial cruise, as the Enterprise-B was not yet fully crewed or equipped for regular duty. Soon after departure, the ship received a distress signal from two Whorfin-class ships transporting El Aurian refugees, trapped in an energy distortion called the Nexus.
With the advice of Kirk, and the help of Scotty and Chekov, the rescue mission was a partial success, but the Enterprise-B succumbed to the Nexus' gravimetric field. Declining Harriman's offer to take command, Kirk volunteered to modify the ship's deflector relays and successfully enabled the ship's escape, but not before a burst of energy from the Nexus breached the secondary hull. Kirk was lost, and presumed dead.
Events of 2371 revealed Kirk had entered the Nexus alive, yet unaware of the passing of 78 years. Discovered by Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D, Kirk agreed to leave his idyllic but unsatisfying existence in the Nexus, to help Picard stop the deranged scientist Tolian Soran from destroying the Veridian system. As Kirk explained to Picard, the main reason he always returned to the command chair of the Enterprise was that it was only there that Kirk could truly make a difference, and he advised Picard to refuse anything Starfleet offered him that would take him away from the current Enterprise, because he would thus lose the ability to make a difference in the universe. Kirk sacrificed his life to save the inhabitants of Veridian IV, as well as the crew of the Enterprise-D. His last words, spoken to Picard, were, "It was... fun. Oh my...". (Star Trek Generations) Captain Picard buried Kirk in a simple stone cairn on a Veridian III mountain top, echoing the burial of his friend, Gary Mitchell, 106 years before. (Star Trek Generations; TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")
[edit] Intellect and Personality
After his transporter personality split in 2266, Kirk was forcibly introduced to the competing elements in his personality, described most roughly as passive and aggressive. (TOS: "The Enemy Within") One half of that nature manifested itself in Kirk's frequent melancholy about the state of his life: when he was aboard ship, he longed for a life of ease; (TOS: "The Naked Time") when moored, his thoughts were with the Enterprise. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) His violent tendencies ranged from his enthusiastic beating of Finnegan (TOS: "Shore Leave") and willingness to provoke Spock, (TOS: "This Side of Paradise") into his well-nursed hatred of Klingons and obvious satisfaction when ordering a decisive photon torpedo salvo. (