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Captain Kirk's Legacy is Still Shaping Star Trek History in a Huge Way
By far the most legendary captain in Star Trek lore is James Tiberius Kirk, one of the most celebrated officers in Starfleet history and captain of the original USS Enterprise, but even more than a century after Kirk's death, he is still a major influence. Nowhere is this more evident than through the impressions he left on people who knew him, like Montgomery Scott.
Affectionately known as Jim to his friends, Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa and was the son of George Kirk, himself a Starfleet officer. Growing up the young Kirk admired his father and followed in his footsteps by attending Starfleet Academy, where he was the only cadet to ever beat the Kobayashi Maru scenario —by cheating. This one incident of rebellion and defiance would set the stage for his career, as the brash but intelligent Kirk worked his way up the ranks to become captain of the Starfleet’s flagship, the USS Enterprise. During his time serving aboard he was known to take risks, but to always value those around him and their advice. Looking back on his career a century later there were some who thought of Kirk as a cowboy, a relic of a bygone era when space was a little less settled. However, there is no denying his impact on Starfleet as a whole.
The legacy of James T. Kirk still courses through the ranks of the Federation, especially in the memory of Montgomery Scott, Kirk’s chief engineer and the one member of his crew who survived into the 24th century thanks to a transporter accident. In Star Trek #3 by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Ramon Rosanas, and Joe Eisma, Scotty is the chief engineer of the USS Theseus under Deep Space Nine’s former commander, Benjamin Sisko. While recruiting the new crew Scott took a particular interest in the Vulcan ensign, T’lir, who had a sealed disciplinary incident during his posting on Starbase One. Readers learn through a data page that he was recruited for duty aboard the Theseus from a Corrective Duty by Scotty. Given how prone he is to seeing Kirk in others, it is entirely possible that Scotty saw his old captain’s issues with authority and brilliance in the Vulcan officer.
Starfleet Needs Rule-Breakers Like Captain Kirk
In the time of captains like Picard, Janeway, and even Sisko a disciplinary action that required reassignment to a Corrective Duty would be a death blow to anyone’s career in Starfleet. In the hundred years since Captain Kirk, most captains consider themselves to be diplomats and adherents to the rules of Starfleet, but that was not always the case for the original Enterprise and her crew. Sure, Kirk, did his best to uphold the principles and the Federation, and he surely believed in them, but he was not beyond disobeying orders or bending the rules to get the job done, as he did with the Kobayashi Maru. Scotty, an adherent of Kirk, knows that despite the more buttoned-up officer corps, Starfleet still needs a little rule-breaking to get the job done. Like a true engineer Scotty is also a firm believer in not judging a person or a ship by their worst day, but instead seeing the potential in them and how to bring it out.
Given that the possibly non-binary Vulcan, T'lir, has already saved the historic mission of the Theseus, it’s fair to say that he is right in this regard. In the days of the old Enterprise the frontiers of the Federation were less settled and captains had more leeway to deal with problems. In the modern era of Star Trek, captains have lost a little of the cowboy spirit, but with the help of people like Montogmery Scott, Starfleet will never full lose the influence and example of one iconic captain, James T. Kirk.
