Summary

The Enterprise is about to leave Starbase 2, where Janice Lester and Dr. Arthur Coleman have been turned over to the authorities. In Kirk's quarters, Kirk and McCoy discuss Kirk's relationship with Lester at Starfleet Academy. Kirk blames himself for not seeing how obsessed Lester was with starship command. He tells McCoy the Enterprise has been ordered back to Earth for a refit. Kirk has received transfer orders for all 430 crewmembers. McCoy urges Kirk to fight the transfers, including Kirk's own promotion to Admiral and Chief of Starfleet Operations, but Kirk has decided to take the promotion. Kirk is tired of holding his crew's lives in his hands. On their way to the bridge, McCoy reminds Kirk that the lives he has saved far outnumber the crew he has lost, but Kirk believes that he can help save lives on a broader scale at Starfleet Command. Resisting McCoy's warning that he will never get the Enterprise back if he gives her up, Kirk orders a heading back to Earth.

References

Characters

James T. Kirk • Lanier • Leonard McCoy • Spock • Hikaru Sulu

Referenced only

B'Targi • Ruth Cartwright • Arthur Coleman • Willard Decker • Ben Finney • Janice Lester • Carol Marcus • Gary Mitchell • Montgomery Scott • Areel Shaw • Robert Tomlinson

Starships and vehicles

USS Enterprise (Constitution-class)

Locations

Camus II • Earth • San Francisco • San Francisco Fleet Yards • Sector 001 • Starbase 2

Races and cultures

Human • Vulcan

Referenced only

Andorian

States and organizations

Starfleet • Starfleet Academy • Starfleet Command • Starfleet Corps of Engineers • Starfleet Operations • United Federation of Planets

Other references

alien • Andorian ale • archeology • bridge • bulkhead • camel • cancer • carpet • champagne • Chief of Starfleet Operations • civilization • command • cortex mapping • deck • drydock • duty roster • duty shift • emotion • first contact • five-year mission • funeral • galactic barrier • galaxy • laundry • medicine • morality • office • prescription • psychology • quarters • refit • secretary • security • shore leave • species • trial • tunic • uniform • universe • war • wardrobe • xenobiology

Occupations and titles

cadet • captain • Chief of Starfleet Operations • crewman • doctor • officer • physician • professor • rear admiral

Technology and weapons

computer • diagnostic bed • force field • impulse engine • integrating interface • intercom • mind transference machine • monitor • optic probe • padd • simulator • starship • turbolift • viewscreen • warp core • warp nacelle • weapon

Chronology

Appendices

Related media

• TOS episode & Star Trek 5 novelization: Turnabout Intruder

Background

• This story describes the end of the Enterprise's five-year mission. Several other versions of this story, including TOS comic: "The Final Voyage", TOS comic: "Mission's End" and TOS novel: The Lost Years, have all given differing accounts of the end of the mission. However, the Pocket Books Timeline and the Memory Beta Chronology agree that the five-year mission ended in 2270, instead of in 2269, and not immediately after TOS episode & Star Trek 5 novelization: Turnabout Intruder, which is stated here.
• Janice Lester is referred to with her correct first name only once in this story. Elsewhere, she is called "Janet" Lester.
• Kirk lists "Will Decker" among people he failed to protect or keep alive. This is incorrect, since Will Decker merges with V'Ger, and is declared missing in TOS movie & novelization: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, set after this story. Commodore Matt Decker dies in TOS episode & Star Trek 3 novelization: The Doomsday Machine, but Kirk was not his commanding officer.
• Kirk states in this story that 58 Enterprise crewmembers died in the line of duty during the five-year mission. According to "Admiral Kirk's Preface" to TOS novelization: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 94 crewmembers died.

Connections

Star Trek: The Original Series collected short stories, novellas and short novels
The New Voyages	The New Voyages ("Ni Var" • "Intersection Point" • "The Enchanted Pool" • "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited" • "The Face on the Barroom Floor" • "The Hunting" • "The Winged Dreamers" • "Mind-Sifter" • "Sonnet from the Vulcan: Omicron Ceti Three") • The New Voyages 2 ("Surprise!" • "Snake Pit!" • "The Patient Parasites" • "In the Maze" • "Cave-In" • "Marginal Existence" • "The Procrustean Petard" • "The Sleeping God" • "Elegy for Charlie" • "Soliloquy")
Star Trek II & III Short Stories	Star Trek II Short Stories ("The Blaze of Glory" • "Under Twin Moons" • "Wild Card" • "The Secret Empire" • "Intelligence Test" • "To Wherever") • Star Trek III Short Stories ("The Azphari Enigma" • "The Jungles of Memory" • "A Vulcan, A Klingon, and an Angel" • "World's End" • "As Old as Forever")
Strange New Worlds	I ("A Private Anecdote" • "The Last Tribble" • "The Lights in the Sky" • "Reflections") • II ("Triptych" • "The Quick and the Dead" • "The First Law of Metaphysics" • "The Hero of My Own Life" • "Doctors Three") • III ("If I Lose Thee..." • "The Aliens Are Coming!" • "Family Matters") • IV ("A Little More Action" • "Prodigal Father" • "Missed" • "Tears for Eternity" • "Countdown" • "First Star I See Tonight" • "Scotty's Song" • "The Name of the Cat") • V ("Disappearance on 21st Street" • "The Trouble with Borg Tribbles" • "Legal Action" • "Yeoman Figgs" • "The Shoulders of Giants") • VI ("Whales Weep Not" • "One Last Adventure" • "Marking Time" • "Ancient History" • "Bum Radish: Five Spins on a Turquoise Reindeer" • "A Piece of the Pie") • VII ("A Test of Character" • "Indomitable" • "Project Blue Book" • "The Trouble With Tribals" • "All Fall Down" • "A Sucker Born" • "Obligations Discharged") • 8 ("Shanghaied" • "Assignment: One" • "Demon" • "Don't Call Me Tiny") • 9 ("Gone Native" • "A Bad Day for Koloth" • "Book of Fulfillment" • "The Smallest Choices") • 10 ("The Smell of Dead Roses" • "The Doomsday Gambit" • "Empty") • 2016 ("Dilithium Is a Girl's Best Friend")
Constellations	"First, Do No Harm" • "The Landing Party" • "Official Record" • "Fracture" • "Chaotic Response" • "As Others See Us" • "See No Evil" • "The Leader" • "Ambition" • "Devices and Desires" • "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" • "Make-Believe"
Star Trek: Explorer	"All That Most Maddens and Torments" • "The Way to Exile" • "Cumulative Damage" • "Explorers of the Storm" • "The Guardian" • "The Trouble with Jones" • "Sundering" • "A Dish Served Cold" • "Forewarned and Three-Armed" • "Working Miracles" • "Cat and Mouse" • "Housewarming" • "Memoriam"• "Chekov's Challenge" • "My Name is Mudd" • "The Lost Noel"
Misc. short stories	"Though Hell Should Bar the Way" • "Conflicting Natures" • "The Avenger" • "Night Whispers" • "Just Another Little Training Cruise" • "Safe Harbors" • "Ill Winds" • "The Greater Good"
Misc. novellas & short novels	"The Business, As Usual, During Altercations" • "The Badlands, Part I" • "One Giant Leap" • "The First Artifact" • "The Sorrows of Empire" • "A Less Perfect Union" • "The Chimes at Midnight"

Timeline

published order
Previous story: The Doomsday Gambit	Strange New Worlds 10	Next story: Wired
Previous story: The Doomsday Gambit Strange New Worlds 10	TOS short stories	Next story: Dilithium Is a Girl's Best Friend Strange New Worlds 2016
Previous story: A Bad Day for Koloth Strange New Worlds 9	Stories by: David DeLee	Next story: most recent work
chronological order
Previous adventure: Captain's Personal Log	Memory Beta Chronology	Next adventure: Assignment: Eternity chapters 2 - 18, 20 & 21
Previous adventure: Captain's Personal Log	voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (2264 to 2270)	Next adventure: Assignment: Eternity chapters 2 - 18, 20 & 21