Stiles ( Lieutenant ) Lieutenant Stiles was a male Human Starfleet officer who lived during the mid - 23rd century . He served in the command division aboard the under Captain James T . Kirk , during Kirk ' s historic five - year mission . During the Neutral Zone Incursion of 2266 , Stiles was serving as the ship ' s navigator . Biographical record . Stiles evidently came from a family with a long history of space service ; he mentioned a captain , two commander s , and several junior officer s who all served during the Earth - Romulan War – and who were all lost in that war . These family losses left him with an inherent hatred of Romulan s that was perhaps greater than that of most other officers . Though Stiles ' first assignment was weapons control prior to his assignment as navigator aboard the " Enterprise " when the ship responded to the destruction of several Earth Outpost Station s on the Federation side of the Romulan Neutral Zone . His family history made him suspicious that the outpost s ' attacker was Romulan – a suspicion that turned out to be accurate , as the perpetrator was a . When it was learned the Romulans were externally almost identical to Vulcan s , Stiles transferred his hatred to Spock , making a number of thinly veiled insinuations that eventually drew the ire of Captain James T . Kirk ; Kirk remarked that bigotry had no place on the bridge . During battle with the Romulan ship , close - range detonation of a nuclear device left the forward phaser control room manned only by Specialist Robert Tomlinson , with no standby crew . Given Stiles ' familiarity with weapons control , he left the bridge to assist Tomlinson . When the phaser coolant line developed a fault , Stiles and Tomlinson were overcome before they could escape . Fortunately , Spock was nearby and was able to rescue Stiles before the gas could kill him . Stiles gratefully accepted that Spock had risked his own life to save his , and that he wouldn ' t be alive without Spock having done so . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Stiles was portrayed by Paul Comi . Stiles ' first name is not established on - screen but was given as " Andrew " in a cast list that was written for the script of " Balance of Terror " ( despite the name not being used at all in the main body of the script ) . He was also listed as having that first name in reference works " Star Trek Concordance " and " The Star Trek Compendium " , the comic book sourcebook " Who ' s Who in Star Trek " , and StarTrek . com . The reference book " " ( p . 063 ) speculates that Stiles ' longing for vengeance may have been inspired by the film . The revised final draft script for " Balance of Terror " fleshed out Stiles ' suspicion that Romulan spies might have been aboard the " Enterprise " . A line written for Commander indicated that the Bird - of - Prey incorporated " starship design " elements stolen from Earth by spies or traitor s . Apocrypha . In the Bantam TOS novelization of " Balance of Terror " ( printed in " Star Trek 1 " ) , author James Blish referred to Stiles as second officer ( even though he seemed to be outranked by Montgomery Scott in the canon episodic version of the story ) . Blish ' s treatment also listed Stiles as a fatality , removing the premise that he was saved by Spock , as seen in the episode . Several other non - canon works mentioned Stiles . He appeared in the Pocket TOS novel " " . The comic " Debt of Honor " established that he became a security officer in his later career , with the rank of commander . The Pocket TNG novel " Red Sector " stated that he was a commander in security at retirement and indicated he might still be alive by the 2350s , but also listed his name as " John Stiles " . " " had an " Aaron Stiles " , his possible ancestor , as a main character .