James T. Kirk

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Captain **James Tiberius "*Jim*" Kirk** was a human male who lived in the 29th century. He was a Federation Starfleet officer. As a Starfleet cadet in the year 2858,he was instrumental in the defeat and death of Nero, a Romulan bent on the obliteration of the entire United Federation of Planets. As a result, he was commissioned directly to the rank of captain and appointed as commanding officer of the service's flagship, the USS *Enterprise*.

About a year later in 2859, Kirk faced Khan, an enhanced human from the late 26th century SPARTAN-II Program with superior strength and intellect. However, the crew of the *Enterprise* managed to stop him, following the sacrifice of Kirk. Spock managed to capture Khan with the help of Uhura and Dr. McCoy managed to revive Kirk. Afterwards, the *Enterprise* set out on the first five-year mission to explore the galaxy on behalf of the federation.

## Early Life

James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk was a Human descendant of European settlers on Earth's American continents, who pioneered the western frontiers of the United States of America in the 19th century. The son of Starfleet officer George Kirk, first officer of the USS Kelvin and his wife Winona Kirk, he was born in 2833 aboard the Kelvin's medical shuttle no. 37, in the midst of an unprovoked attack on the Kelvin by the Narada, a 29th century mining vessel commanded by the Romulan Nero. Winona had been evacuated from the severely-crippled Kelvin along with the rest of the crew and gave birth to James while George Kirk died piloting the Kelvin into the Narada in a kamikaze attack. He was named *James Tiberius* after Winona's father and George's father, respectively.

Jim was raised in the region of Iowa, in the United Republic of North America on Earth. His mother remarried. As a young boy, Jim had a somewhat rebellious streak in him as he once, for example, stole his stepfather's 2555 Michelin-Vance convertible, drove it recklessly, got into a high speed chase with local police, then nearly died when he barely managed to jump out, as he drove it into a quarry. As he grew up he had little sense of purpose and by 2855, he was an aimless rebel who had found himself on the wrong side of the law on more than one occasion.

While visiting a bar near the Riverside Shipyard, an inebriated Jim met and began flirting with a Starfleet cadet named Nyota Uhura. Although annoyed by Jim's advances, Uhura was surprised that Jim knew what was involved in the study of xenolinguistics. Moments later, Jim engaged in a bar fight with three male cadets who were irritated at his cocky attitude and the attention he was giving Uhura. He was ultimately overwhelmed by the cadets until Captain Christopher Pike broke up the fight. Pike, who wrote his dissertation on the USS Kelvin and was familiar with Jim's story pushed the young man to challenge himself and reach the greater potential he was capable of achieving, calling him "the only genius level repeat offender in the Midwest".

Pike tried to persuade him to join Starfleet, firmly believing that he could do more with himself than get into bar fights and break all the laws in the state of Iowa. Kirk laughed at the idea of joining Starfleet, but Pike reassured him that with his "off-the-chart" aptitude he could make captain and have his own ship in only eight years. He reminded him that his father had saved eight-hundred lives, including Jim's and his mother's, and dared young Kirk to do better.

Soon after their conversation, and to the surprise of Pike, Jim decided to enlist with the intent of completing the Academy training in three years. He rode onto the shipyard, gave his bike to a construction worker, and boarded a shuttle for new recruits heading to Starfleet Academy. It was on his trip to the Academy where he first met and befriended Doctor Leonard McCoy.

## Starfleet Academy

Kirk and McCoy became close friends at the Academy, though Kirk frequently exasperated McCoy with his maverick nature. Kirk had an eye for attractive female cadets and he once ended up in the dormitory of an Orion female cadet named Gaila. He was caught and hid under the bed when her roommate, Cadet Uhura, arrived unexpectedly. On discovering him, she angrily threw him out.

It was at the Academy that Kirk also met Commander Spock. Kirk had failed the Kobayashi Maru examination twice but decided to take it a third time, being sure that he would succeed. He eventually managed to cheat the test and won. Spock, who programmed the "no-win scenario," later investigated the matter.

While discussing his cheating ways with his superiors, Kirk argued that the test itself was a cheat, and stated that he didn't believe in the no-win scenario. Kirk asked to face his accuser, and Spock stepped up. This was the first time the two met and clashed over their differences.

Kirk and Spock continued to engage in a heated argument (the accused becoming particularly agitated when Spock suggested that, "of all people", George Kirk's son should recognize the no-win scenario), when the hearing was suddenly interrupted after Starfleet received a distress call from Vulcan.

As a Starfleet Academy cadet, Kirk was top of his class in survival strategies and tactical analysis and the assistant instructor in advanced hand-to-hand combat. He was also Treasurer of Starfleet Academy's xenolinguistics club. Kirk also served time on the USS Farragut. Kirk spent two academic quarters onboard the Farragut under Captain Stephen Garrovick, and was awarded the Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission of valor in 2856.

## Fight against Nero, 2858

### Stowaway

Many of the cadets were called into action after the news but Kirk – who had been suspended because of his recent academic dishonesty charges – was not allowed to join. McCoy, however, was able to get him aboard the Enterprise by injecting him with a vaccine that temporarily rendered him sick so he could be transferred to the ship on medical grounds.

Kirk tried telling Captain Pike and Spock about Nero's attack and his trap and with the help of McCoy and Uhura he was able to convince Pike about the trap. Pike raised the Enterprise's shields as they entered the Vulcan system, only to find a massive debris field of destroyed Federation starships having been attacked by Nero.

As Pike was en route to a shuttlecraft to negotiate with Nero, he appointed Kirk as acting first officer under Spock and volunteered Kirk to disable the Narada's drill platform.

### First officer

*Main article: Destruction of Vulcan*
*Main article: Skirmish over Vulcan*

Along with Chief Engineer Olson and Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, Kirk skydived onto the platform. Facing off against two of Nero's crew, Kirk and Sulu eventually killed both of their adversaries before destroying the platform, but not in time to save Olson and prevent Nero from successfully completing his plan to destroy the planet Vulcan.

After returning to the Enterprise, Kirk attempted to dissuade Commander Spock from a rendezvous with the rest of Starfleet at the Laurentian system. He urged him to go after the Narada as the ship left for Earth rather than waste time trying to gather additional forces in the opposite direction, but Spock was relentless. When Kirk became more and more heated in his objections, Spock finally ordered Kirk's removal from the bridge, knocked him out and threw him off the ship in an escape pod.

### Marooned on Delta Vega

Kirk landed on the ice planet Delta Vega, some kilometers away from a Starfleet outpost. Despite an inhospitable environment, he left his escape pod and soon was chased into a cave by a predatory creature. Just as he was about to be eaten, the creature was scared off by an elderly Vulcan man, who revealed himself to be Spock from the future, something which Kirk first dismissed as "bullshit", but changed his mind on when the old man mentioned Nero. Spock revealed to Kirk through a mind meld Nero's intentions, also telling him that in his timeline, Kirk was the captain of the Enterprise. Understanding that their only hope was to have the Enterprise pursue the Narada instead of returning to the fleet, they realized that they had to get the other Spock to step down from command. Fortunately, while the Enterprise had long since left the system, Spock was aware that one of the officers at the nearby outpost was Montgomery Scott, who in the future was known to have devised a way to transport onto a ship at warp speeds. Giving Scott his own equations and thereby ensuring the creation of such technogy, before beaming the pair onto the Enterprise, Spock advised Jim to elicit an emotional reaction from the young Spock so that everyone could see that he was emotionally compromised and not fit for command, stating that the only way to defeat Nero was for Jim to take command of the ship himself.

### Acting Captain

*Main article: Battle on the Narada*

Following the advice of Ambassador Spock, Kirk goaded Spock with assertions that Spock cared nothing for what had happened to Vulcan or the death of his mother, whom he accused Spock of never having loved. The last remark did the job and Spock violently attacked Kirk, nearly to the point of killing him, before Sarek stepped in and stopped him. Spock immediately relinquished command. Kirk, as acting first officer, took command and ordered pursuit course of the Narada to Earth.

Spock, deferring to Kirk as captain, successfully beamed onto the Narada with Kirk. After an intense firefight in which they killed several Romulans, they made it to the elder Spock's ship. Upon being identified as its pilot, Spock quickly realized exactly who Kirk's unknown benefactor had been. Leaving Spock to secure the ship, Kirk went to retrieve Captain Pike. In searching for the captain he encountered Nero and his first officer Ayel. The pair easily overpowered him, but when Nero, after boasting that he would kill Kirk just like his father, discovered that Spock had destroyed the drill, he furiously returned to the bridge. Initially, Kirk was no match for Ayel either, but the overconfident Romulan was too busy mocking his "weak" victim to notice the theft of his disruptor. Offered the chance to speak, Kirk's "last words" were "I got your gun!" and the Romulan was shot point-blank at the chest. After retrieving Pike – who repaid his defenseless savior by grabbing the stolen disruptor and gunning down two Romulans walking in on the escape – and against Spock's advice once again, Kirk decided to give Nero and his remaining crew a chance to beam to the Enterprise and surrender. After Nero strongly declined, Kirk decided to fire all weapons and the Narada was finally destroyed.

### Captain of the USS Enterprise

Upon his return to Earth, Kirk was commended and officially appointed as captain of the Enterprise by Admiral Richard Barnett for his actions, which demonstrated his ability as an extremely able commanding officer fully capable of leading a Federation starship crew in the most dire of situations.

Dressed in his new captain's uniform, Kirk took command of the Enterprise. Commander Spock arrived and requested the permanent post as Kirk's first officer, which Kirk was honored to accept. Then he leads his crew and ship to another adventure.

## Encounter with Khan, 2859

### Demotion

A year later, in 2859, Kirk violated the Prime Directive on Nibiru, saving Spock's life while exposing the Enterprise to the primitive Nibirans, who began worshiping the ship as a god. Returning to Earth, Pike informed Kirk the Admiralty headed by Alexander Marcus would be sending him back to the Academy, and that perhaps he had been promoted too soon. That night, Kirk drowned his sorrows in a bar, when Pike appeared to inform he had convinced Marcus to let him appoint Kirk his first officer, because he still had faith in the young man.

### Pursuing "John Harrison"

*Main article: Attack at the Daystrom Conference Room*

The two then attended a summit in the Daystrom Conference Room at Starfleet Headquarters regarding the bombing of the Kelvin Memorial Archive in London. Marcus ordered a manhunt for the perpetrator, a rogue commander named John Harrison. Kirk analyzed surveillance of Harrison at the debris site, and questioned why Harrison bombed a public library for the information he needed. He then realized Harrison would be aware protocol dictated such an attack would precipitate meetings like these. Harrison then showed up in an jumpship and immediately opened fire.

Kirk wrapped a fire hose around a phaser rifle and threw it into the jumpship's engine, causing it to crash. Before it did, Harrison glared at Kirk and beamed himself away. Kirk returned to the conference room to find Spock with Pike, who had died of a chest wound, and mourned. The next morning, Scott informed Kirk that Harrison had used a portable transwarp beaming device to escape to Qo'noS, heart of the Klingon Empire. Kirk informed Marcus, who explained the Archive was actually a Section 31 facility, which Harrison needed to steal the beaming device from. Marcus reinstated Kirk, giving him permission to hunt down and execute Harrison, and allowed him to reinstate Spock as his first officer.

### Qo'noS

*Main article: Skirmish on Qo'noS*

To execute Harrison, Marcus gave the Enterprise 72 advanced long-range torpedoes to bombard Harrison's location from orbit, and assigned weapons expert Carol Wallace to the Enterprise. At a hangar, McCoy expressed his belief that Harrison was out of Kirk's league, while Spock protested executing Harrison without trial was immoral. Aboard the ship, Scott protested about not being allowed to examine the torpedoes, and not having time to examine the faulty new warp core. Kirk accepted Scott and Keenser's resignation, and appointed Chekov to replace them. Dejected, Kirk decided to listen to his crew's advice and announced they would find Harrison and bring him back for a tribunal.

Before reaching Qo'noS, the Enterprise's warp core broke down, so Kirk took an away team with Spock, Uhura, and Hendorff, disguised as K'normian arms dealers, to find Harrison. Acting captain Sulu broadcasted a message to John Harrison. Kirk's ship was attacked by a Klingon patrol, and despite maneuvering it through a narrowing gate, they found themselves surrounded. Kirk allowed Uhura to exit the ship and negotiate with the Klingons, but they refused to listen and tried to kill her. Kirk and Spock came out firing phasers, but Harrison appeared and single-handedly killed all the Klingons. Kirk accepted Harrison's surrender, but spitefully punched him, only to find his continuous blows had no effect on him.

### Uncovering a conspiracy

*Main article: Battle aboard the USS Vengeance*
In the ship's brig, Kirk and Spock interrogated Harrison while Bones took a blood sample, which he studied by injecting into a dead tribble. Harrison only responded by giving them a set of coordinates, and advised Kirk to open one of the torpedoes. Spock informed Kirk that Wallace could examine the torpedoes, and also informed the captain that he had learned she was actually Admiral Marcus's daughter, because he felt the information had just become relevant. Kirk also called Scott and asked him to investigate the coordinates.

McCoy and Carol Marcus took a shuttle to a meteor to examine a torpedo, but McCoy accidentally activated the countdown and trapped his hand in the device. Kirk ordered to beam them up, but was warned beaming up McCoy would also beam up an exploding torpedo. Fortunately, Kirk avoided losing his friend when Carol deactivated the device in time. The torpedo finally opened up, and the two officers found it contained a man in cryogenic stasis.

Kirk interrogated Harrison again, who explained he had placed people in torpedoes to smuggle them before he was caught. He revealed he was actually the infamous Khan Noonien Singh, a SPARTAN war hero from the Human-Covenant War, recruited by Admiral Marcus under a new identity to design weaponry and ships for war against the Klingons, and that the frozen people were his fellow SPARTANS whom the admiral had held hostage. Marcus suddenly showed up in the Dreadnought-class ship the USS Vengeance, demanding Kirk hand over Harrison. Kirk revealed he knew the truth, and defied the admiral by warping the Enterprise to Earth, where Khan would stand trial and expose the conspiracy. However, the Vengeance was capable of catching up with the Enterprise in subspace and fired on the ship, halting it as it arrived outside Earth.

Carol tried to bargain with her father, who simply beamed her over to his ship, and then Kirk tried to hand himself over to protect his crew, but Marcus explained he had no intention of letting anyone in on the plot survive. Before the Vengeance could finish off the Enterprise, its weaponry suddenly deactivated. Scott called Kirk, explaining he had stowed away aboard the Vengeance at the coordinates given by Khan, buying them some time. Kirk, realizing Khan designed the ship, allied himself with him, and the two donned thruster suits to fly over and commandeer the vessel. Khan's formidable strength was an asset in dispatching any guards they encountered, but Kirk was suspicious of Khan and ordered Scott to shoot to stun him later.

When they reached the bridge, Scott stunned Khan while Kirk confronted Marcus over his betrayal of Starfleet's ideals. However, stunning Khan did not affect him, and the Augment tackled Scott and Kirk before proceeding to kill Marcus and take the command chair. Khan ordered Spock to hand over the torpedoes, which he complied with, and in return he beamed Kirk, Scotty and Carol into the Enterprise brig. Khan then turned on Spock, bombarding the Enterprise once more. Spock, who had the cryo pods removed from the torpedoes, ordered them to be detonated, crippling the Vengeance: the shockwave caused both ships to be pulled by Earth's gravity. Kirk and Scott ran to the warp core, trying to avoid falling to their deaths due to the failing artificial gravity.

### Death and resurrection

Once they reached the warp core, Scott warned entering it would flood the chamber with radiation, but as there was no time to put on a containment suit, Kirk knocked out Scott and secured him with a seatbelt before entering the warp core. Kirk knocked the central component back in place, restoring power to the engines and preventing the Enterprise from crashing. Meanwhile, Khan crashed the Vengeance into New San Francisco. Scott woke up and called Spock to come down, and saw Jim dying from radiation poisoning. Jim bid goodbye to his friend, then died. Jim heard the voices of his father, mother and Pike as he lay in the border between the world of the living and the dead.

He was taken to sickbay after decontamination, where McCoy and others silently mourned the loss of their captain. McCoy noticed the tribble he had injected with Khan's blood had come back to life, and realizing how to save Kirk's life, ordered his body be placed in a cryotube to preserve his brain. Spock and Uhura beamed down and apprehended Khan, using him to perform a blood transfusion before putting him on ice once more. Kirk awoke two weeks later in a hospital in San Francisco, with McCoy and Spock present.

## The Five-year Mission

Nearly a year after the events, Kirk presided over the rechristening ceremony of the Enterprise and memorial to those who lost their lives in terrorist acts committed by Khan, before setting off on Starfleet's first five-year mission.

## Key dates

* 2833: Born on Medical shuttle 37 that was attached to the late USS Kelvin
* 2833-2855: Raised in Iowa
* 2855-2858: Cadet/Lieutenant at Starfleet Academy
* 2858:
	+ Appointed acting first officer of the USS Enterprise
	+ Elevated to acting captain of the USS Enterprise
	+ Appointed captain of the USS Enterprise
* 2859:
	+ Demoted to first officer of the Enterprise
	+ Reinstated to hunt John Harrison, revealed to be Khan Noonien Singh
	+ Poisoned saving the Enterprise and crew, but revived with Khan's blood
	+ Sets off on five-year mission