About Me
According to the back story, Kirk had a distinguished career in Starfleet Academy, becoming the first person to defeat the Kobayashi Maru test that stymied cadets for many decades. Whereas any situation would be met by the simulator's overriding dictate that the cadet lose, Kirk won by rewriting the program to allow him to rescue the Kobayashi Maru's crew. For this, he received a commendation for original thinking.Kirk began his Starfleet career as a cadet in 2250. He received help getting into the Academy by a man named Mallory, whose son later served under Kirk during his first command of the Enterprise and unfortunately died in the line of duty. While still a student at the Academy, he was granted a field commission as an Ensign and posted to advanced training aboard the USS Republic in 2251. While there, young Ensign Kirk accused Ensign Ben Finney of carelessly leaving a switch to the atomic matter piles open which would have blown up the ship in a matter of minutes. This later would come back to haunt Kirk in the episode "Court Martial." Kirk was promoted to Lieutenant junior grade in 2253 and returned to Starfleet Academy as a student instructor.Once he graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2254, Kirk was promoted to a full Lieutenant and served aboard the USS Farragut. He gained a tremendous amount of experience aboard the Farragut, commanding his first planet survey and also surviving a deadly attack by a gas cloud alien, in which a large portion of the Farragut's crew, including Captain Garrovick, were killed. According to the episode "Obsession," Kirk later felt that he had been negligent by hesitating when firing on the hostile alien life-form, which later killed Garrovick. Eventually Kirk learned that phaser fire had no effect on the creature and his guilt feelings eased somewhat, however he still felt great sadness over the death of the Captain (whom Kirk had always regarded as one of the finest men he'd ever known).Kirk became the youngest captain in Starfleet to date at 29. According to the official Star Trek website, Kirk, at the age of 32, was the third captain of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), following in the footsteps of Robert April, who predated Christopher Pike as captain of the vessel. Kirk commanded the Enterprise's historic five-year mission from 2265 until 2270. Alongside Kirk was his equally legendary first officer, the Human/Vulcan Spock, who also doubled as the Enterprise's science officer. Filling out the crew were chief medical officer Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, chief engineer Montgomery Scott, communications officer Uhura, helmsman Hikaru Sulu, and later navigator Pavel Chekov. The crew's dedication to Kirk mirrored his own relentless loyalty to his ship.Upon completion of the Enterprise's mission, Kirk achieved the rank of Rear Admiral, and was assigned as Chief of Starfleet Operations. In the Star Trek novel Star Trek: The Lost Years by J.M. Dillard, it is stated that during this time period, Kirk was a diplomatic trouble-shooter for Starfleet who was sent on various missions, including a counter-terrorism mission on the planet Djana. However, Kirk was unfulfilled in this administrative role. Spock later told his friend, "Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny...anything else is a waste of material."
Kirk aboard the Enterprise-A in 2293In 2272, to combat V'Ger, Admiral Kirk took temporary command of the Enterprise over Captain Willard Decker, who oversaw the ship's refit while in dry dock. He retired from Starfleet sometime around 2282, but returned to active duty in 2284, where he was in command of Starfleet Academy training.In Star Trek II, in 2285, Admiral Kirk briefly took command of the Enterprise in order to pursue his old enemy, Khan Noonien Singh. He was later demoted to Captain after stealing and scuttling the Enterprise, and sabotaging the USS Excelsior that same year in order to revive Spock, who died in the mission to stop Khan. Kirk was given command of the USS Enterprise-A, and commanded the ship for several years until the vessel was decommissioned in 2293.With Dr. Carol Marcus, Kirk had a son, David, who was killed by Klingons in 2285. The death of his son enraged Kirk for years to come. While he had always been distrustful and wary of the Klingons, after David's death, he held them collectively responsible for the death of his son. When Spock, on behalf of his father Sarek, opened negotiations with the Klingon Empire after the Praxis incident and 'volunteered' Kirk to lead the mission, Kirk was enraged. When Spock pointed out that they were dying, his sharp response was "Let them die!" It was only when the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon, on his deathbed, pleaded, "Don't let it end this way," that Kirk started to realize not all Klingons were responsible for his son's death, and finally started to let go of his hate of the Klingon people.In Star Trek VI, a Klingon court convicted him of murdering Gorkon in 2293; he was sentenced to a life term in the prison mines of Rura Penthe, but was subsequently rescued and cleared of guilt.
