Eustace Hensham was a 23rd century Human man. He was a Starfleet captain who temporarily replaced James T. Kirk as the CO of the Federation starship USS Enterprise.
History[]
Hensham's father was a command general. Hensham himself was arrogantly obsessive when it came to procedure and protocol, including salutes by junior officers. By the 2260s, he had a receding hairline. He reported to Admiral Martin.
In 2267, per standard procedure, Hensham was assigned to replace the ailing Captain Kirk, who was recuperating on Earth after sustaining a serious injury while helping repair meteoroid damage. Hensham boarded the Enterprise wearing an operations division uniform and holding a white glove.
Hensham disciplined an exhausted repair party, repeatedly insulted his bridge crew, and insisted on getting the ship underway before repairs were tested. When a salvo of meteors were fired at the ship, he insisted on closing toward its source at full speed, leading Montgomery Scott to consider him a madman and Spock a lunatic. The Enterprise discovered the cloaked Carnak space cannon, but when the starship was suddenly caught in the gravity well of the cloaked planet Carnak, Hensham panicked, ordering personnel to abandon ship. Spock restrained Hensham and ordered Scott to fire vertical thrusters, which enabled the ship to touch down safely. Becoming unstable and paranoid, Hensham assaulted Spock and threatened him with a court martial, raving about the captaincy. Spock relieved him on grounds that he was unfit for command. Two security officers restrained him, and Leonard McCoy took him to sickbay.
Later, Hensham assaulted an orderly who brought him a meal. Hensham dressed in the man's uniform, stole an explosive from the armory, and sneaked out an airlock to the surface. Because the indigenous humanoid population was enormously tall, Hensham was able to sneak past their sentries and blow up a Carnak hover tank. He then raved about the attack to the Enterprise crew. Spock arrested him and confined him to quarters.
After the diplomatic situation was stabilized and the Enterprise had relaunched into space, McCoy reported that Hensham died from the emotional strain of the week's events and was finally at peace. (TOS comic: "Where Giants Tread")
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| Preceded by: James T. Kirk |
Commanding Officers of the Starships Enterprise 2267 |
Succeeded by: James T. Kirk |