Nilz Baris Nilz Baris was the Federation ' s undersecretary in charge of agricultural affairs for the quadrant of space bordering the Klingon Empire during the 2260s . In early 2268 , Baris visited Deep Space Station K - 7 to take charge of the development project on Sherman ' s Planet , responsible for the successful transfer of the grain quadrotriticale from Earth to Sherman ' s Planet . On stardate 4523 . 3 , Undersecretary Baris summoned Captain James T . Kirk and the crew of the to K - 7 to protect the grain through the use of a priority 1 distress call . Kirk was ordered by Starfleet Command to accommodate Baris , despite being angered at Baris ' frivolous use of the alert for agriculture security , and imperious justification for it . Kirk endeavored to obey the letter of his request with a minimal effort to annoy him . That stormy relationship worsened during the stay with the stopover of a Klingon ship arrived at the station demanding shore leave privileges much to Baris ' alarm and the rapid infestation of tribble s courtesy of a small - time trader , Cyrano Jones . Eventually , Kirk went out of his way to bait Baris at every turn , at one point threatening to hold him in irons if he did not shut up . When the tribbles ate most of the grain , an outraged Baris vowed to put Kirk before a board of inquiry for both the mishap and Kirk ' s treatment of him . However , that move was preempted when a massive die - off of tribbles alerted the crew that the grain was poison ed . Furthermore , one of the tribbles revealed that Baris ' assistant Arne Darvin was responsible as a Klingon spy . As a result , Baris satisfied himself with arresting Darvin . ( ; ) Background information . Nilz Baris was played by actor William Schallert . The script for " Trials and Tribble - ations " spelled the name as " Barris " . According to David Gerrold ' s book " " , Baris was originally named " Damon Jones " in his original premise for this story entitled , " The Fuzzies " , which later evolved into " The Trouble with Tribbles . " According to Gerrold , Jones was originally conceived as being " fairly sympathetic , " which was rather contrary to Baris , which he described as " a pretentious , self - important bureaucrat . " In the original premise , Jones was worried that his grain was going to be sabotage d by a rival corporation , known as the " Barth Neo - Corn Corporation . " To ensure the safety of the grain , the USS " Enterprise " was called in to protect it and make sure it reaches its destination , the planet " Barth . " After revising the original premise , based on suggestions by Gene L . Coon , " The Fuzzies " evolved into a script outline , entitled " A Fuzzie Thing Happened to Me . . . " , and Jones evolved into " Nil Baris . " According to that draft of the script , Baris was " a coarse , heavy - set man " who was " a raw - boned farmer turned businessman " with " an air of roughness about him that is very unpleasant . " For the scene in " Trials and Tribble - ations " where Sisko and Dax observe Kirk and Spock talking to Baris over the intercom , Steve Tucker used dialogue from Baris elsewhere in the " The Trouble with Tribbles " to make the scene in " Trials and Tribble - ations " longer . ( " " ) Apocrypha . The short story " Dorian ' s Diary " in " Strange New Worlds III " establishes that Baris was still alive into the 2370s and was the great - great grandfather of Red Squad cadet Karen Farris . After Farris was killed aboard the in 2374 , the elderly Baris visited the sole surviving original " Valiant " crew member Dorian Collins while she was recovering at Tycho City . The " Myriad Universes " series features an alternate timeline , where Darvin ' s sabotage was never discovered and the subsequent disaster at Sherman ' s Planet cost thousands of lives , Baris assumed leadership of the remnants of the Human colonies there . He used his considerable expertise in dealing with Klingons ( including Darvin , who revealed his true identity to Baris , whom Darvin had grown to respect ) to deal with the situation , and eventually became President of the United Federation of Planets . While he had a long and distinguished presidential career and was fondly remembered by the citizens of the Federation ( including Leonard McCoy , a lifelong friend ) , Baris never got over his long - standing feud with Darvin .