Note:
Some of this information is from the Chronology.
However, some of the dates in the Chronology are WRONG!
This has been corrected for this page.
A better timeline than the Chronology can be found HERE.
James Tiberius Kirk was born in
2233 in Riverside, Iowa on planet Earth. In 2246, Kirk -- at age 13 -- was one
of nine surviving eyewitnesses to the massacre of some 4,000 colonists at planet
Tarsus IV by Kodos the Executioner. James Kirk lost his older brother, George
Samuel Kirk (whom only James called "Sam"), and sister-in-law, Aurelan Kirk,
on planet Deneva due to the invasion of Denevan neural parasites in 2267. Kirk's
nephew, Peter Kirk, survived. Samuel Kirk had two other sons who were not on
Deneva at the time of the tragedy.
At the Academy, Kirk was called "a stack of books with legs." All he ever did
was bury himself in his studies. During these Academy days, Kirk was tormented
by an upperclassman named Finnegan, who frequently chose Kirk as a target for
practical jokes. Kirk found a measure of satisfaction years later, in 2267,
when he had a chance to beat up a replica of Finnegan created on the amusement
park planet in the Omicron Delta region. Kirk served as an instructor at the
Academy and Gary Mitchell was one of his students. The two were good friends,
and once Mitchell took a poisonous dart on Dimorus meant for Kirk, saving Kirk's
life. Mitchell set Kirk up with a little blond lab technician, whom Kirk almost
married. This technician is believed by many fans to be Carol Marcus, whom later
gave birth to Kirk's son, David.
Another of Kirk's friends from his academy days was Benjamin Finney, who named
his daughter, Jamie, after Kirk. A falling-out developed between Finney and
Kirk around 2250 when the two were serving together on the U.S.S. Republic.
Kirk logged a mistake Finney had made, and Finney blamed Kirk for his subsequent
failure to obtain command of a starship.
One of Kirk's heroes at the Academy
was the legendary Captain Garth of Izar, whose exploits are required reading.
Another of Kirk's heroes personal heroes is Abraham Lincoln. At the Academy,
Kirk earned a reputation for himself as having been the only cadet ever to have
beaten the "no-win" Kobayashi Maru scenario. This earned him a commendation
for original thinking.
Kirk's first assignment after graduating from the Academy was aboard the U.S.S.
Farragut. One of his first missions as a young lieutenant was to command a survey
mission to Tyree's planet in 2254. While serving aboard the Farragut in 2257,
Lieutenant Kirk blamed himself for the deaths of 200 Farragut personnel, including
Captain Garrovick, by the dikironium cloud creature at planet Tycho IV. Kirk
felt he could have acted faster in firing on the creature, but learned years
later that nothing could have prevented the deaths. Sometime in the past Kirk
almost died from a disease called Vegan choriomeningitis.
Kirk's greatest renown came from
his command of a historic five-year mission on the original starship U.S.S.
Enterprise (NCC-1701) from 2266-2271. His Serial Number is SC 937-0176 CEC.
By 2267, Kirk had earned an incredible list of commendations from Starfleet,
including the Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission, the Grankite Orders of Tactics
(Class of Excellence), and the Preantares Ribbon of commendation (Classes First
and Second). Kirk's awards for valor included the Medal of Honor, the Silver
Palm with Cluster, the Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry, and the
Kragite Order of Heroism. In 2267, Kirk became the first starship captain ever
to be put on trial when he was accused of causing the death of Benjamin Finney.
During Kirk's trial, held at Starbase 11, Kirk and Spock proved Finney had faked
his own death, and Kirk was exonerated.
Following the return of the Enterprise from the five-year mission in 2271, Kirk
accepted a promotion to admiral, while the Enterprise underwent an extensive
refit. At the time, Kirk recommended Willard Decker to replace him as captain
of the Enterprise, although Kirk accepted a grade reduction back to captain
when he regained command of the ship to meet the V'Ger threat in 2274. After
this incident, Kirk commanded the Enterprise on a historic second five-year
mission.
Following the second five-year mission, Kirk became a staff instructor at Starfleet
Academy. But returned to active duty in late 2283 when Khan Noonien Singh hijacked
the Starship Reliant and stole the Genesis Device. Kirk's close friend, Spock,
was killed in that incident. Upon learning that Spock's katra survived, Kirk
hijacked the soon-to-be-decommissioned Enterprise to the Genesis Planet to return
Spock's body to Vulcan, where the body was reunited with Spock's living spirit.
Kirk self-destructed the Enterprise during this incident to prevent its capture
by Klingons. His son, David Marcus, was killed by Klingons during this event.
Kirk was charged with nine violations of Starfleet regulations in connection
with the revival of Spock in 2284. But after mitigating circumstances due to
Kirk saving the planet Earth by time travel, Starfleet decided to "punish" Kirk
by giving him command of the second U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701A) and reducing
his rank back to captain.
Years later in 2290, Kirk played a pivotal role in saving the historic Khitomer
peace conference as well as the life of the President. This was the last mission
of the Enterprise under Kirk's command. Kirk retired three months later.
Three years after Kirk's retirement, in 2293, Kirk was at the christening voyage of the third starship U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701B), and helped it's captain, Captain Harriman, rescue a group of El-Aurians (including a man named Dr. Tolian Soran) from a transport vessel that was trapped in something called the Nexus. The Nexus is an energy ribbon that is filled with pleasure and where time has no meaning. Kirk saved the Enterprise, but was pulled into the Nexus and believed to be dead.
Seventy-eight years later, in 2371, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, aboard the fifth starship Enterprise (NCC-1701D), attempted to stop the long-lived Dr. Tolian Soran from destroying planet Veridian III in his obsessive attempt to return to the Nexus ribbon. However, Picard failed and was pulled into the ribbon. While in the ribbon, Picard went to Kirk, who was still there. Picard asked Kirk to help him stop Soran. Kirk decided to leave the pleasure of the Nexus and have one last adventure. Kirk succeeded in saving Veridian III, but was mortally wounded in the process. Picard buried Kirk's remains on Veridian III. Kirk is once again believed to be deceased, but as Kirk's friend Spock has stated:
"There are always... possibilities."