Leonard McCoy's History
Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy, MD, was a Starfleet medical officer serving in the 23rd century. He became the chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise during the destruction of Vulcan, serving under acting captain Spock and then his classmate at Starfleet Academy, Captain James T. Kirk.
While at medical school, McCoy witnessed an extremely severe allergic reaction. He completed medical school and was a certified doctor sometime prior to 2255. McCoy was married, but endured a harsh divorce. Afterwards, with nowhere else to go, he decided to enlist in Starfleet. McCoy boarded the Starfleet shuttle for new recruits which departed from Riverside Shipyard in 2255. McCoy suffered from aviophobia and attempted to remain in the shuttle's bathroom during the flight, as there were no windows in that section of the craft. However, a flight officer discovered him and forced him to sit with the other passengers and buckle up. He sat next to James T. Kirk, who assured McCoy of the shuttle's safety, to no avail; the nervous doctor kept ranting to Kirk about the health hazards of flying in a shuttle. McCoy confided to Kirk his reasons for joining Starfleet, saying that his wife "took the whole damn planet in the divorce," and "all I have left are my bones." He and Kirk then introduced each other and shared a flask of alcohol as the shuttle took off for Starfleet Academy.
McCoy spent three years at Starfleet Academy, during which time he and Kirk became close friends; Kirk was now referring to McCoy as "Bones", based on McCoy's statement three years ago that his bones were his only remaining possession.
McCoy thought Kirk was mad for wanting to retake the Kobayashi Maru test, and knew Kirk well enough not to believe him when he claimed he was going to "study." Indeed, Kirk had gone off to engage in sexual foreplay with a fellow cadet, Gaila.
At Kirk's request, McCoy participated in Kirk's third attempt to beat the Kobayashi Maru simulation, serving at the helm station. McCoy believed Kirk would fail miserably as he had done the first two times, but he was surprised when his friend somehow defeated the simulation. Shortly thereafter, however, McCoy was among the cadets in attendance in the Academy assembly hall when Kirk was accused of cheating. As it turned out, Kirk had reprogrammed the simulation to make it possible to win. McCoy watched as Kirk faced off against his accuser, Commander Spock, the programmer of the Kobayashi Maru test.
Kirk's hearing was interrupted when the ruling council received word of a distress call from Vulcan. All cadets, including McCoy, were ordered to report to Hangar 1 for assignment. McCoy was assigned to the newly commissioned USS Enterprise, which had yet to have its maiden voyage. Kirk, however, was on academic suspension, which prohibited him from being assigned to a starship. McCoy decided to smuggle his friend aboard the Enterprise; to do so, he injected Kirk with a vaccine to protect against a viral infection from Melvaran mud fleas. The injection caused Kirk to experience the symptoms of the infection, allowing McCoy to bring Kirk aboard the Enterprise as a patient.
After successfully sneaking Kirk aboard the Enterprise, McCoy brought him to the ship's medical bay, sedated him, and prepared for duty. Kirk awoke as the Enterprise neared Vulcan, and McCoy was horrified to find that Kirk's hands had swollen, an allergic reaction to the Melvaran mud flea vaccine. Kirk, however, was preoccupied with the notion that the Enterprise was heading into a trap, a deduction he reached after hearing Ensign Pavel Chekov's announcement over the intercom.
McCoy chased Kirk through the ship, injecting him with various medications while Kirk searched for Nyota Uhura to confirm his theory. Afterward, McCoy and Uhura chased after Kirk as the seemingly delusional officer ran onto the ship's bridge to warn Captain Christopher Pike that they were heading into a Romulan trap. McCoy attempted to explain Kirk's presence to Pike, accepting full responsibility for his actions, but Kirk was ultimately able to convince the crew that there were indeed Romulans waiting for them at Vulcan.
Doctor Puri, the Enterprise's chief medical officer, was on deck six when he was killed by missiles fired by the Romulan ship, Narada. McCoy took over his role and later received acknowledgment from Spock over the comm as being Puri's replacement. He later treated the injuries Kirk sustained while attempting to deactivate the Narada's drilling platform, and also saw to the survivors of the Narada's destruction of Vulcan. With Captain Pike captured by the Romulans, McCoy joined Kirk, Acting Captain Spock, and the rest of the bridge crew in discussing the continuing threat of Nero, the captain of the Narada. Kirk argued with Spock over their next course of action, with McCoy siding with Spock's decision to rendezvous with the rest of the Federation fleet in the Laurentian system. McCoy then laid witness to Kirk's attempted – and failed – mutiny.
Later, in a private discussion with Spock, McCoy voiced his extreme displeasure with the acting captain's decision to maroon Kirk on Delta Vega. Spock disagreed with McCoy's assertions, and when Spock left, an infuriated McCoy referred to the acting captain as a "green-blooded hobgoblin." Shortly thereafter, McCoy was on the bridge when Kirk – who had returned to the Enterprise via transwarp beaming – instigated a brawl between himself and Spock, proving that Spock was emotionally compromised by the mission at hand, having lost his planet and his mother, and could not continue commanding the Enterprise. After coming to his senses, Spock reported to McCoy that he was emotionally compromised and that he was resigning his command as a result.
In spite of his obvious support of Kirk, McCoy was still vocally incredulous when Kirk became acting captain of the Enterprise following Spock's resignation, crying out, "You've gotta be kidding me!" when his friend sat in the command chair. He reacted much the same way towards Ensign Chekov and his idea for beaming onto the Narada without being noticed after learning that Chekov was only 17 years old. Chekov's calculations proved to be correct, however, and Kirk and Spock were able to rescue Captain Pike and stop Nero before he destroyed Earth.
McCoy continued serving aboard the Enterprise after Kirk received full command of the ship. McCoy was on the bridge when Kirk assumed command for the first time. With a slap on the shoulder, Kirk advised McCoy to "buckle up," referring back to the first time they met aboard the recruitment shuttle.
A year later, McCoy was on Nibiru helping prevent a volcano from causing the extinction of the Nibirans, all while avoiding breaking the Prime Directive. McCoy greeted Kirk with a docile animal as their getaway transport, but Kirk accidentally stunned it, forcing them to run and jump off a cliff to dive to the Enterprise, hidden beneath the waves. On the bridge McCoy listened as Spock, who was activating a cold fusion device to stop the volcano's eruption, asked them to leave him, as getting the Enterprise in range to beam him out would expose the ship to the natives and ignore the Prime Directive. While McCoy asked Kirk to consider what Spock would do in his position, Kirk opted to rescue him and ignore the Directive anyway. Which later got him in trouble.
Later, Kirk was ordered to hunt down the traitor John Harrison, who was behind a bombing in London and an attack on Starfleet Headquarters that left many, including Admiral Pike, dead. McCoy expressed skepticism, believing his friend was too inexperienced to combat him. Kirk found Harrison on Qo'noS, and witnessed him taking down scores of Klingons singlehandedly, so he ordered McCoy to investigate the source of his superhuman strength. McCoy analyzed his blood, and found it possessed extraordinarily regenerative platelets, which he experimented with by injecting into a dead tribble.
In the meantime, Harrison was reticent about his motives but suggested Kirk examine the 72 experimental photon torpedoes Admiral Alexander Marcus had given them to fire on his location. McCoy was skeptical, but took a shuttle with Marcus's daughter Carol to examine one of the classified weapons on a planetoid. He accidentally activated it and trapped his hand: Kirk ordered him to be beamed up, but was warned doing would also bring an exploding torpedo aboard. Fortunately, Marcus deactivated it before she could be beamed up. The two then opened up the torpedo and discovered it contained a man in cryogenic stasis.
Harrison explained he was actually Khan Noonien Singh, having been revived and forced by Admiral Marcus to design weapons and ships for a war with the Klingon Empire. He had attempted to smuggle out his fellow Augments on the torpedoes, but was forced to escape when his scheme discovered: believing Marcus killed his family, he responded in kind in London and San Francisco. Marcus appeared in the Dreadnought-class USS Vengeance and opened fire on the Enterprise when Kirk refused to hand over Khan, but its weapons were deactivated by Montgomery Scott, who boarded the ship during a leave of absence. Kirk and Khan allied to fly over and commandeer the ship, but a suspicious Spock asked McCoy to remove the cryopods from the torpedoes.
As expected, Khan took the Vengeance for himself, but McCoy removed the cryopods so Spock was able to use the torpedoes against Khan, crippling his ship. Both damaged ships began hurtling to Earth: Kirk entered the warp core to reactivate the Enterprise's engines, but did not put on a containment suit, suffered radiation poisoning, and died. Kirk was brought to sickbay, where he lay dead as McCoy and several crew mourned him. When he returned to his desk, the tribble he had injected came back to life. McCoy ordered one of the augments removed from his cryotube and reanimated, but McCoy ordered that he maintained in a medically-induced coma. He and Marcus then placed Kirk in the cryotube, placing him in a suspended animation to preserve his brain functionality. Spock and Uhura beamed down, subduing Khan after he crash landed in the Vengeance, allowing McCoy to perform a blood transfusion on Kirk.
McCoy later greeted a conscious Kirk in a hospital room as his attending physician, checking his vital signs and whether the transfusion had any psychological effects as well.
Almost a year after their encounter with Khan, McCoy attended a memorial service for the lives lost, and continued serving on the repaired Enterprise. He was less than pleased, however, to learn they were embarking on a five-year mission.
In 2263, after a failed diplomatic mission, Kirk and McCoy shared a drink while Kirk discussed his reasons for joining Starfleet and how everything seems to have become "episodic." Kirk also requested of McCoy to not tell the crew about his thirtieth birthday.
Following the arrival of Kalara at Yorktown, McCoy traveled with the rest of the Enterprise crew to Altamid inside the Necro Cloud. There, the Enterprise was attacked by Swarm ships and McCoy, who had been on the bridge when the battle began, headed for med bay with Spock. After a brief engagement with Swarm drones, the two men boarded a turbolift, only to be ejected into space when the Swarm severs the Enterprise's saucer from the secondary hull. The turbolift was captured by a Swarm ship, but McCoy and Spock ejected the crew and McCoy took over piloting the ship. McCoy ultimately crashed the Swarm ship on Altamid.
On the surface of Altamid, McCoy discovered that Spock had a piece of metal stuck in his abdomen. Lacking the proper tools to treat Spock's injuries, McCoy removed the piece of metal and crudely cauterized the wound, which he states is only a temporary fix. The two men then began making their way across Altamid, attempting repeatedly to contact the Enterprise, unaware that the ship had been destroyed. While resting, Spock noted the architecture on the planet matched that of the Abronath and told McCoy of Spock Prime's death and his decision to leave Starfleet. McCoy became concerned that Spock was delirious after he laughed at one of McCoy's jokes. As the two continued, Spock admitted to having a great deal of respect for McCoy, who continued to attempt to contact the Enterprise before they were cornered by three Swarm ships. Spock was suddenly beamed away, startling McCoy who was beamed out shortly after the Vulcan to the USS Franklin by Scotty after Chekov detected McCoy's latest attempt to contact the Enterprise and used it to track him and Spock.
On the Franklin, McCoy took Spock to the mess hall where he used a device from the Franklin to properly treat Spock's wound. McCoy then took part in the debate over how to rescue the crew and was amused to hear that Spock had given his girlfriend essentially a tracking device. McCoy aided in the rescue mission with Kirk, Spock and Jaylah, breaking the crew out of their pens and helping them beam out to the Franklin in groups of twenty. He refused to beam the last group until they were joined by Spock and Uhura and the rescue mission was ultimately successful.
After the crew's rescue, McCoy used what he could find on the Franklin to treat their injuries and remained in med bay for the first part of the battle with Krall's forces. After Spock decided to beam to a Swarm ship to get their cyberpathic connection, he chose to take McCoy along as McCoy was both familiar with his injury and piloting a Swarm ship. Though McCoy protested the idea, he was beamed with Spock to a Swarm ship.
After taking over the Swarm ship, McCoy takes the controls of the craft, proving himself to be a somewhat clumsy but effective pilot. Spock was able to locate the cyberpathic connection, allowing the Franklin to use a VHF disruption signal to destroy the Swarm. Struggling to stay ahead of the exploding Swarm ships and arguing with Spock about Spock's backseat driving, McCoy was startled to recognize the signal as "classical music".
After Krall and three ships made it into Starbase Yorktown, McCoy followed them in his Swarm ship and attempted, without success, to intercept the three ships. On Kirk's orders, McCoy flew head on at Krall's ships, forcing them low to the ground towards Yorktown Central Plaza where they were intercepted by the Franklin. McCoy then attempted to figure out how to land the Swarm ship before Krall was revealed to be heading towards the Yorktown's central atmospheric processor. McCoy remained in the air during the fight between Krall and Kirk and recognized that Kirk won't be able to get out in time if he attempted to vent the Abronath to space. Kirk succeeded in venting the Abronath and Krall harmlessly into space and McCoy and Spock rescued the captain in their Swarm ship before he can suffer the same fate.
McCoy later lead Kirk to a surprise birthday party with the crew and wondered if Kirk really intended to return to space. Kirk had regained his enthusiasm for spaceflight and expounded upon McCoy what new wonders there were for them to explore.
