Mid-level Biography Brief Mode
Final Rank: Captain
Full Name: James Tiberius Kirk
Date of birth: March 22, 2233
Place of birth: Riverside, Iowa, Earth
Education: Starfleet Academy, 2250-2254
Marital status: Single
Children: One son, David Marcus (2261-2286)
Date of death: 2293/2371*
Place of death: Enterprise-B in Nexus/Veridian
III*
Serial number: SC937-0176 CEC
Quarters: On original Enterprise, Deck
5; on refit/1701-A, Deck 5/Room 0195
Starfleet Career Summary
2250 -- As a first-year Academy student
with ensign rank, assigned to
NCC-1371 U.S.S. Republic
2254 -- Upon graduation, promoted to lieutenant
and posted to U.S.S. Farragut
under Capt. Garrovick
2264 -- Promoted to captain, in command
of U.S.S. Enterprise for five-year
mission
2266 -- Exonerated in wrongful death charge
of Ben Finney, first captain ever to
stand trial
2269 -- Returned from five-year mission;
promoted to admiral in charge of fleet
operations at Earth
2271 -- Demanded to relieve Capt. Will Decker,
his choice as successor for the
refit Enterprise, and dealt with V'Ger
crisis before beginning second five-year
mission
2277 -- Accepts appointment to Academy faculty,
moves into San Francisco
apartment
2286 -- Charged, convicted and reduced permanently
to captain's rank by the
Federation Council for theft of Enterprise
a year earlier, after saving Earth from
alien onslaught by securing two extinct
whales via time-traveling; given
command of NCC-1701-A Enterprise
2287 -- Explores center of the galaxy with refit Enterprise hijacked by Sybok
2293* -- Spearheads initiatives leading
to Khitomer Accords and exposes
anti-peace conspiracy in Starfleet and
Klingon Empire; dies while saving the
Enterprise 1701-B from an energy anomaly
just minutes after its
commissioning ceremony
2371 -- Reappears in Nexus Ribbon long enough
to help Captain Jean-Luc
Picard save planet Veridian III from destruction
in the Nexus
As much as any other figure in Starfleet
history, the tall tales about James T.
Kirk's exploits over a 40-year career are
as numerous as the official record -
and probably closer to the truth in some
instances. Kirk's renown began by
becoming the youngest captain in Starfleet
to date at 34 and the first captain to
bring his starship back relatively intact
after a five-year mission, having also
gained a reputation as an independent whose
success couldn't be argued even
though he often bucked the system. He also
has the distinction of being
involved in 17 different temporal violations,
a career record which still stands.
Kirk's ancestors pioneered the American
frontier, and his Midwest roots tied
him closely to American history, a lifelong
interest. He had an older brother,
George Samuel Kirk, although "Sam" and
his wife Aurelan died at Deneva in
2267; their one son and Kirk's nephew Peter
survived them. As a child of 13,
Kirk witnessed the massacre of 4,000 people
during a famine by the governor of
Tarsus IV, nicknamed Kodos the Executioner.
A romantic at heart, Kirk never formed a
lasting, romantic relationship due to
his devotion to career - especially during
his captaincy of the U.S.S.
Enterprise. He did father a son with Dr.
Carol Marcus, David, but was asked to
avoid his upbringing and did not know he
had matured into a scientific genius
until 2285-86, when the young man was killed
by Klingons on the Genesis
planet he'd help to create. Kirk long grieved
for the boy's death, and that he had
only a few months to know his progeny.
He also regretted not having married a
woman named Antonia whom he dated for about
two years, from 2282 to 2284.
A family friend named Mallory helped gain
Kirk entry to Starfleet Academy, and
he soon had the rare treat of earning starship
duty as a first-year cadet with the
brevet rank of ensign while aboard the
U.S.S. Republic. There Kirk was close
friends with Benjamin Finney, for whose
murder Kirk was later tried, but was
tormented by an upperclassman, Finnegan.
As an older cadet he served as an
instructor, where Gary Mitchell was one
of his students and later his best
friend, saving his life on Dimorus. His
heroes included Abraham Lincoln and
Captain Garth, whose missions were required
reading in class, as were the
works of Dr. Roger Korby. Kirk had the
distinction of being the only cadet ever
to beat the "no-win" Kobayashi Maru scenario;
he had secretly reprogrammed
the simulation computer, making it possible
to win and earning himself a
commendation for original thinking.
After graduation, Kirk's first assignment
was the U.S.S. Farragut as
anewly-promoted lieutenant, a tour distinguished
by his command of a survey
mission to Tyree's planet Neural in 2254
and his guilt-plagued discovery of the
creature dubbed a "cloud vampire" which
led to the deaths of his captain and
200 shipmates - although he realized that
there was nothing he could have
done to save them. Kirk once contracted
and recovered from Vegan
chloriomeningitis, but still carries microorganisms
of it in his blood.
Kirk's historically rapid rise to a captaincy
and command of a loyal and
respectful 430-member crew are reflected
in the awards and commendations he
had garnered by 2267, including the Palm
Leaf of the Axanar Peace Mission,
the Grankite Order of Tactics, a Class
of Excellence award, the Prantares
Ribbon of Commendation, First and Second
Class, the Medal of Honor, a Silver
Palm with Cluster, the Starfleet Citation
forConspicuous Gallantry, the Karagite
Order of Heroism and several Awards of
Valor.
It was on this Enterprise that he assembled
a crew and forged friendships with
fellow officers who would themselves become
Starfleet legends: First Officer
and Science Officer Spock, Dr. Leonard
McCoy, engineer Montgomery Scott,
Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov, Uhura. Even
after the end of their five-year mission,
it almost became a cliche that only Kirk
and his crew could save the
Federation from a new crisis - or at least
Earth. That is exactly what happened
in the case of V'Ger in 2271 and the whale-calling
aliens in 2286.
Kirk had accepted a promotion to admiral
in charge of fleet operations upon his
initial return, but accepted a reduction
to captain when he regained command
of the Enterprise in 2271 to thwart V'Ger,
relievingWill Decker after
recommending him for the "center seat."
Some 14 years later after another
five-year command mission and a return
to Academy teaching, he used
Spock's cadet ship to thwart a grab by
his onetime nemesis Khan Noonian
Singh for the experimental Genesis device.
That mission in turn set off a chain
of events that led to Kirk's reunion with
Carol Marcus and his son David, David's
death, Spock's sacrifice to save the ship
and his storage of his katra in
McCoy's mind, and the discovery that Spock's
body had regenerated on the
Genesis Planet.
Bucking the odds once again, Kirk's loyal
officers all risked their careers and
lives to steal the Enterprise, retrieve
Spock's body for refusion with his katra,
and face down a Klingon crew in their way
bent on taking Genesis - which
included the destruction of Kirk's beloved
starship. With the stolen Klingon Bird
of Prey and Spock on the road to recovery,
the officers opted to return to face
punishment - but notbefore time-traveling
to retrieve extinct whales to space
Earth from an alien probe's onslaught while
searching for them. Once again,
Kirk was rewarded rather than punished,
and given command of the all-new
1701-A Enterprise that year.
Heavily involved with the beginning peace
negotiations with the Klingons after
spoiling an attempt by terrorists to destroy
the proceedings, Kirk's actions
helped bring about peace in the galaxy
just prior to his retirement in 2293.
While on the ceremonial christening of
the U.S.S. Enterprise-B, Kirk
disappeared into the Nexus, a temporal
ribbon in which he has a timeless,
perfect life, and pronounced dead. However,
in 2371, Captain Jean-Luc Picard
persuaded him, amid endless Nexus fantasies,
to help him to save Veridian III
from the possessed El-Aurian, Dr. Tolian
Soran. They stopped the madman's
plot, but Kirk was killed in the fight
and buried in a plain grave on the rocky
planet.