Styles Captain Styles was a Starfleet officer and commander of the prototype vessel , in 2285 . History . Styles was a somewhat arrogant man , coming off with an attitude of superiority . He took extreme pride in his assignment as master of the " Excelsior " , which had been outfitted with an experimental transwarp drive . The night before the " Excelsior " was to be launched from spacedock , Styles encountered Montgomery Scott , his newly assigned captain of engineering , telling him that he was " looking forward to breaking some of the " Enterprise " ' s speed records . " That same evening , Styles was informed that Admiral James Kirk was attempting to steal the " Enterprise " , and immediately mobilized the " Excelsior " crew to stop him . Upon the " Enterprise " s emergence from spacedock , Styles contacted Kirk , reminding him that , if he followed through with the illegal action , his career in Starfleet would be over . Kirk ignored him , however , and took the " Enterprise " to warp . Styles expected to quickly catch up to the " Enterprise " utilizing the " Excelsior " s transwarp system , but was unpleasantly surprised to find that Scott , who was Kirk ' s former chief engineer , had sabotage d the transwarp drive . ( ) By 2290 , Styles had been replaced as commanding officer of the " Excelsior " by Hikaru Sulu . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Styles was played by actor James B . Sikking . According to the film ' s script , " " Styles is an officer about Kirk ' s age . If he ' s a little stuffy , it ' s pardonable ; he does , after all , have the plum assignment in all of Starfleet . " " Apocrypha . Styles was called " Lawrence Stiles " in FASA ' s " Star Trek III Sourcebook Update " RPG supplement . Other sources have called him " Edward Styles " ( " Who ' s Who in Star Trek 1 " ) , " James Styles " ( " Starship Creator " ) , " Lawrence H . Styles " ( " Forged in Fire " ) and " Robert Styles " ( " " ) . According to the video game " " , Styles has a wife named Carolyn , a son named Eric and a daughter named Paula . In the Pocket TOS novel " " , a younger Lieutenant Styles was the annoying nemesis to Lieutenant Commander Scott ( and a discharged Kirk ) when he was given temporary command of the damaged USS " Enterprise " during its refit . He regarded himself as superior to Kirk , stating that , with him in charge , " Enterprise " would have a " real " captain . However , he lost his position after Kirk was allowed to take the " Enterprise " to investigate the possibility of foul play ; Styles , outraged at this , told a superior officer that he could not do that . The novel also revealed that Kirk and Styles once served together on the , and developed a keen dislike for each other . He picked up his swagger stick from a Klingon that he beat in personal combat . In the novel , Scott , mightily annoyed by the behavior of Styles , broke the stick over his knee . Styles also made a brief appearance in the Pocket TOS of by Vonda N . McIntyre . Here , still in command of " Excelsior " , he was ordered by Starfleet Command to intercept and destroy the Whale Probe before it reached Earth . However , he never even made it out of Spacedock before the probe ' s transmissions rendered his ship and the massive space station around it completely useless . In the original comic " Tomorrow Never Knows ! " by DC , Styles was humiliated by Kirk and Scott ' s sabotage . Around the Fleet , he was given the nickname " Drydock Styles " along with " Styles without Substance " . As such , he sought to embarrass Kirk at any opportunity as revenge for humiliating him . According to the novel " Forged in Fire " , Styles was killed in late 2289 at an early peace talk on the planet Korvat between the Klingons and the Federation when a bomb set by a Klingon pirate named Qagh – who became known simply as " the Albino " – detonated in the main chamber . It was at that point that Sulu , Styles ' first officer , became captain of the " Excelsior " . Styles made an appearance in the comic book series titled " The Mirror Universe Saga " created by DC Comics . At this point , he was still captain of the " Excelsior " . At the start of the story , he was trying to retrieve Kirk to answer for disobeying orders , and is captured by of the mirror universe and placed in a stasis chamber .