Main Characters
James T. Kirk
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.
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.
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, engineerMontgomery Scott, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov, Uhura. Even after the end of their five-year mission, it almost became a cliché 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.
Mr. Spock
Spock's mother, Amanda Grayson, was a human schoolteacher from Earth and his father, Sarek, was a respected diplomat. For most of his life, Spock was torn between his emotional human side and the stern discipline of his Vulcan half.Spock was the first Vulcan to enlist in the Federation Starfleet, serving aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike as a lieutenant, and later for James T. Kirk.
After the conclusion of the U.S.S. Enterprise's five-year mission, Spock retired from Starfleet and returned to Vulcan to pursue the emotion-purging of the kohlinar discipline from the Vulcan Masters Spock sacrificed himself in 2285 to repair plasma conduits that allowed the U.S.S. Enterprise and its crew to escape from the detonation of the Genesis Device by Khan Noonien Singh; his radiation-wracked body was consigned to space but landed on the newly formed Genesis Planet and began regeneration. Prior to his death, Spock had mind-melded with McCoy to transfer his katra, apparently intending for his longtime friend and sparring partner to return it to Vulcan and perhaps be fully regenerated in the fal-tor-pan or refusion process, conducted for the first time in generations.
In later years, Spock's work became more diplomatic than scientific, initially remaining a part of Starfleet. Spock carried a life-long interest in art, music, literature and poetry from many worlds, especially Terran, and played both tri-dimensional chess as well as the Vulcan lute or harp and a keyboard harpsichord.
Leonard McCoy
Nicknamed 'Bones' by his longtime friend and commander, Captain James T. Kirk, McCoy replaced Mark Piper as chief medical officer in 2266 on one of the ship's five-year missions. His temperament was sometimes argumentative, a cynic's outer crustiness masking deep caring beneath the surface. His "old South" roots led to the old-time physician manner of doctoring, with a Southern accent that was most apparent when under stress. McCoy was married once and later divorced, a relationship never discussed except for his one daughter, Joanna, who later graduated from nursing school. As such an emotional watchdog he was not afraid to take on his captain, but it was his running battle of wits with Spock which became legendary. Spock showed his true feelings, though, as when inviting McCoy down to Vulcan for his "wedding" and in storing his katra with him before a known suicidal saving of their ship before the Genesis detonation.
After the U.S.S. Enterprise's triumphant return from its five-year mission, McCoy retired from Starfleet, grew a beard and went into virtual seclusion with a rural practice, only to be forced back to duty by Kirk and Admiral Nogura when V'Ger threatened Earth in 2271. After that he continued through the years of renewed Enterprise service with Kirk until at least the Khitomer peace talks of 2293, having survived imprisonment with him on trumped-up charges at the Rura Penthe mining prison when he could not revive assassinated Klingon Chancellor Gorkon. Spock's deposit of his katra in 2285 had nearly driven McCoy crazy and landed him in Starfleet detention until the refusion took place, whereupon he delighted in the Vulcan's re-education process.
As a retired admiral he remained active in his later years, serving at the age of 137 and shuttling aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise-D in 2364 in his role of inspecting medical facilities on new starships.