This story takes place after the conclusion of the Voyager series. For commentary, click on the links in the text.
TransFed News, Sol Sector, Stardate (1) 54952
Debate resumed today at the Federation Council over the unexpectedly controversial proposal to proclaim a Federation holiday in honor of the famed 23rd century starship captain, James T. Kirk. The opposition stemmed from a long-standing perception that the planet Earth wields a disproportionate level of influence over Federation affairs.
Tellarite council member Gon argued against imposing a human holiday on the rest of the United Federation of Planets, especially since Founders’ Day already venerates Jonathan Archer. “One commander of a Starship Enterprise is enough,” he told reporters afterwards. “We don’t need a holiday for any others.”
The Vulcan (2) T’Pring concurred, speaking for the minority of her delegation in today’s session. “We the servants of (3) Surak remember him among ourselves for leading us to the path of Logic, without the expectation of homage from others. The humans commemorate (4) Zefram Cochrane for inventing their warp drive, but Vulcans don’t because he didn’t invent ours. In the same manner, let the humans observe the day for James T. Kirk on their own if they so desire.”
(5) Tiberius Kartan from the Deneva Colony, who co-sponsored the resolution to proclaim a Jim Kirk Day, defended his proposal with an appeal to history. “Captain Kirk was a hero to all of the Federation,” he proclaimed. “He saved us on a number of occasions.”
Gon contended Kirk saved just Earth, citing the well-known incidents when the (6) Voyager 6 spacecraft returned from the 20th century to wipe out the planet and a few years later when another (7) probe swamped the world in a global monsoon. The Tellarite also submitted documentation, culled from declassified Starfleet records, describing two other instances when Kirk saved his home world from (8) killer spaceborne machines.
Kartan refuted the assertions of Earth-only salvation with examples of other places Kirk rescued, including Deneva itself which the Captain freed from the control of deadly parasites. Historical records reveal that (9) Kirk lost his own brother in that plague.
Yet the argument which seemed to win the day came from the (10) Sherman Planet’s non-voting representative, who reminded the Council of Captain Kirk’s key role in the establishment of a lasting peace with the Klingon Empire. “He (11) saved the Khitomer Accords by preventing the assassination of Chancellor Azetbur,” said Representative Maxwell Larkin. “The whole Federation benefited from the decades of galactic tranquility that followed.”
Forced to a change in tactics, the opposition endeavored to defame Kirk’s legacy by demanding how any celebration could be sanctioned for a man who so consistently violated the Prime Directive. Just another example of Terran bias, Gon declared. According to the Tellarite, Kirk never hesitated to impose his human values on alien cultures.
Following a recess for lunch, the faction in favor of Jim Kirk Day responded with a steady parade of representatives to the podium from worlds which, in their opinions, owed their Federation membership to the Captain’s interference.
(12) Anan 1492 from the Eminiar and Vendikar System credited Kirk for ending a centuries-old war between the dual planets by destroying the computer that determined battle casualties.
Boss (13) “Fizzbin” Rosco attributed Kirk for allowing his planet Iotia a cut of the Federation pie.
Ardana’s High Advisor Venta Kraxis, the first Troglyte to lead the Ruling Council of the sky city (14) Stratos, made the trip all the way from her world to vouch for Kirk. “The Captain freed my people from oppression,” she said.
The delegation from Beta III was united in praise of Captain Kirk for ending the rule of (15) Landru, or at least the computer he had programmed, that had stagnated Betan development.
An (16) Ekosian embraced his colleague from Zeon at the podium, representing peoples who had been mortal enemies before Kirk exposed the racial hatred of an ideology imported from Earth.
T’Pring responded for the opposition that these instances were all cases when either the Federation had been invited to negotiate or Kirk was merely repairing the damage of a previous contamination.
“These are not the flagrant violations of the Prime Directive of which we speak,” she said.
Other representatives provided examples, including a paradisiacal society Kirk destroyed on (17) Gamma Trianguli VI and an arms race he perpetrated on another (18) primitive world.
The debate became a stalemate, and so the session went into recess pending a final vote tomorrow.
Disagreement aside, Captain James Tiberius Kirk’s place as an iconic figure in Federation history is irrefutable. Born and raised in Iowa on Earth, at age 34 he became the youngest man to command a starship. He was the first commander to take his ship outside of the Milky Way Galaxy, and he did it (19) twice. His Enterprise was the only Constellation class starship to survive its original five-year mission relatively intact. He was commanding the Enterprise A when he salvaged the Khitomer Accords, and sacrificed his life (20) saving the Enterprise B from destruction.
Captain Jean Luc Picard, former commander of the Enterprise D and currently commanding the Enterprise E, holds his predecessor in high regard. “Although I’ve always been a stickler for the Prime Directive,” Picard said recently, “I admire Kirk for his ingenuity. Those were different times and he did what he had to do, I suppose.”
Here Picard’s gaze became somewhat wistful.
“I see a kindred spirit in him, actually. I consider myself to have met the man, and to have worked well with him to (21) save some planet.”
As for former crewmates who knew James Kirk intimately, the famous Vulcan Spock (22) disappeared some years ago into Romulan space and Dr. Leonard McCoy, Starfleet’s Medical Officer Emeritus, was too infirmed to interview for this article. Kirk’s trusty chief engineer, Captain Montgomery Scott, remains a spry octogenarian thanks to several decades (23) suspended in a transporter buffer.
“Ah, Captain Kirk,” Scott told TransFed News. “One could always count on him to pull you through.”
The venerable Scotty, as he prefers to be called, delights in retelling the tall tales of his legendary commander. The Captain (24) grew old and then young again, (25) swapped bodies with a former lover, and (26) was split into his good and evil personalities in a transporter accident, Scott claims. He took a pivotal role in holding the Federation’s enemies at bay, even (27) stealing cloaking technology in a covert operation Starfleet still denies to this day. The stories, fantastic as they are, seem almost believable when considering who they’re about.
The Denevan Kartan and James Kirk (28) Troyius of the Tellun System, obviously named for the man who brought peace to that yet another pair of planets, proposed the James Kirk holiday as part of the ongoing initiative since the Dominion War to foster more unity among Federation worlds. They admit to being taken aback by the opposition, but are confident the measure will pass.
“If not, we’ll try something else,” said Troyius. “We don’t use stamps or credits any more, so we can’t put Kirk’s likeness on those, but there are plenty of schools, ships, planets, and other such things we could name after him.”
(1) This stardate is also the zip code where I grew up. Return to the story.
(2) T'Pring is still holding a grudge against Kirk for messing with her plan in the original series episode, Amok Time. Return to the story.
(3) Surak, the founder of Vulcan logic, appeared in the original series episode, The Savage Curtain, and during the fourth season of Enterprise. Return to the story.
(4) Cochrane appeared in the original series episode, Metamorphosis, and also the movie, First Contact. Return to the story.
(5) Kartan flew his ship into a sun to rid himself of a parasite in the original series episode, Operation - Annihilate. This fellow would be his descendant, with Kirk's middle name as his given name. Return to the story.
(6) V'ger from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Return to the story.
(7) Looking for humpback whales in Star Trek IV. Return to the story.
(8) The planet crusher and Nomad from the original series episodes, The Doomsday Machine and The Changling. Return to the story.
(9) In the original series episode, Operation - Annihilate. Return to the story.
(10) Sherman's Planet was disputed in the original series episode, The Trouble With Tribbles. Return to the story.
(11) In Star Trek VI. Return to the story.
(12) Anan 879 in the original series episode, A Taste of Armageddon, would be a predecessor of Anan 1492. Return to the story.
(13) Fizzbin is the card game Kirk invented in the original series episode, A Piece of the Action. Return to the story.
(14) This is referring to the original series episode, The Cloud Minders. Return to the story.
(15) Landru is the computer Kirk destroyed in the original series episode, Return of the Archons. Return to the story.
(16) The Ekosians were the Nazis in the original series episode, Patterns of Force. Return to the story.
(17) This is referring to the original series episode, The Apple, in which Kirk destroyed Vaal. Return to the story.
(18) This is referring to the original series episode, A Private Little War. Return to the story.
(19) In the original series episodes, Where No Man Has Gone Before and By Any Other Name. Return to the story.
(20) In the movie, Star Trek Generations. Return to the story.
(21) Picard is talking slyly about the events in Star Trek Generations. Return to the story.
(22) In the Next Generation episode, Unification II. Return to the story.
(23) In the Next Generation episode, Relics. Return to the story.
(24) In the original series episode, The Deadly Years. Return to the story.
(25) In the original series episode, Turnabout Intruder. Return to the story.
(26) In the original series episode, The Enemy Within. Return to the story.
(27) In the original series episode, The Enterprise Incident. Return to the story.
(28) This is referring to the original series episode, Elaan of Troyius. Return to the story.
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