Ronald Tracey Ronald Tracey was a 23rd century Starfleet captain who served as the commanding officer of the starship during the late 2260s . Ron Tracey was described by fellow captain James T . Kirk as being " one of the most experienced captains in the Starfleet . " Despite his apparent experience , Captain Tracey violated the Prime Directive . Tracey led an " Exeter " landing party to the surface of the planet Omega IV in 2268 , where they inadvertently contracted the Omega IV virus and passed it along to the rest of their crew . Tracey remained on the surface while his crew died painfully in orbit , and found that the atmosphere provided him immunity to the virus . Driven to insanity by the loss of his crew and ship , and in violation of the Prime Directive , Tracey struck a bargain with members of the planet ' s Kohm faction and participated in their ongoing war against the Yang s . Newly armed with a few phasers , Tracey and his Kohm allies slaughtered thousands of Yangs . The eventually discovered " Exeter " and the dehydrated remains of its crew . The boarding party , led by Captain Kirk , was immediately exposed to the virus and beamed down to the relative safety of the planet ' s surface , where they discovered Tracey . After his crimes were exposed , Tracey shot and killed Kirk ' s security guard , Lieutenant Galloway , subdued the landing party , and demanded a supply of phaser power pack s from the " Enterprise " . Tracey erroneously believed the Omega IV virus held the key to immortality . He considered it an opportunity more important than the Prime Directive , and if missed , " . . . a crime against all Human ity . " After his failure to enlist Kirk in his cause , Tracey and the " Enterprise " officers were captured by the Yangs . Despite Tracey ' s efforts , Dr . McCoy ' s research found that the unusually long life span s of the natives were the result of generations of evolution in reaction to deadly bioweapon s used in the past . As such , there was no isolatable serum to extract to replicate that hardiness in other beings . The immunity is simply a matter of being exposed ( for even a rather short time ) to biological agents in the planet ' s environment , where any surviving lifeforms have developed immunity to the bio - war agents by evolution . In a last - ditch effort to regain control of his fate in the face of this crushing reversal , Tracey played on the Yang ' s superstitions and tried to convince them that Kirk and his officers were evil , and must die . The Yangs matched Tracey and Kirk in combat to the death , to decide the truth of Tracey ' s wild claims . The intervention of an " Enterprise " rescue party permitted Kirk to spare Tracey ' s life and place the once - respected starship captain under arrest . ( ) Background information . Captain Tracey was played by actor Morgan Woodward , who said of the character , " " [ He ] was simply a good man gone bad , perhaps because of some ego - induced insanity . Captain Tracey didn ' t become a starship captain by being a jerk or a bad guy . It was just a good man gone bad . That ' s the way I tried to play him . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 62 ) Tracey is the only " " character , other than James Kirk , to wear a captain ' s rank insignia and be seen ( alive ) as the commanding officer of a starship . All other active starship commanders were commodore s ( Matthew Decker , Robert Wesley , and Commodore Stocker albeit temporarily ) , while the captain of the was seen dead on the floor of his bridge in both and . Depending on which version of the episode a viewer sees ( syndicated or unsyndicated ) , two versions of Tracey are seen at the end of the episode ; a madman or a scheming criminal who wants to still find a way out of his situation . This can be seen after Tracey returns in a dazed hysteria from the Kohm battle , learns from Kirk that there is no serum and , with his plans for a fountain of youth having been all for nothing , he orders Kirk , " " Outside , or I ' ll burn down both your friends . " " In the syndicated version , Tracey appears to be a man at his wit ' s end , crazed from the Kohm battle , and he is taking Kirk outside to murder him in cold blood . This is assumed in the very next scene ; Kirk attacks Tracey , in fear of his life . However , in the unsyndicated version , a much more complicated motive arises from Tracey removing Kirk . Once outside , Tracey appears to calm down . He explains that he must have more phasers and asks Kirk to help him . Kirk then says everyone can simply beam up , but Tracey will not go , fully aware he would face criminal charges . He then pleads with Kirk , offering to join forces with him , and asks , " " If I put a weapon in your hand , you ' ll fight , won ' t you ? " " He then gives Kirk his communicator and lets Kirk contact his ship to ask for phasers . When Sulu refuses to beam down weapons , Tracey comments that Kirk has a well trained crew . Only then does Kirk attack Tracey , seemingly as a last ditch attempt to take him into custody and beam off the planet . ( " The Star Trek Compendium " ) Tracey ' s quest for immortality , in spite of a great moral cost , was later echoed in , when Vice Admiral Matthew Dougherty attempted to harness the metaphasic radiation unique to the Ba ' ku planet in 2375 .