DeSalle

Species:	Human
Affiliation:	Starfleet
Rank:	Lieutenant
Occupation:	Navigator Assistant chief engineer
Status:	Alive (2267)
Played by:	Michael Barrier

Lieutenant DeSalle was a male Human Starfleet officer in the 23rd century. He served aboard the USS Enterprise in 2267 under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, during the historic five-year mission. DeSalle was of French descent.

He began his service on the Enterprise in the command division. He was one of the ship's navigators. Later, he transferred to the operations division, where he became an assistant chief engineer in the Engineering Department.

In 2267, on stardate 2124, DeSalle was one of three people who beamed down to the planet Gothos in search of Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Sulu, who had been abducted by the powerful alien Trelane. Expecting to arrive in an inhospitable climate, this landing party was surprised to discover an oasis of Earth-like conditions. When communications failed, DeSalle attempted to contact the ship using a laser beacon, but this method also failed. DeSalle later attempted to shoot Trelane with his phaser, an act that resulted in his paralysis, and the theft of his weapon by Trelane, who delightedly experimented with it, disintegrating several of his bizarre trophies before returning the weapon. (TOS: "The Squire of Gothos")

Later that year, on stardate 3417, DeSalle accompanied Captain Kirk on a landing party to the Omicron colony on Omicron Ceti III. DeSalle discovered that, anomalously, the colonists themselves had been the only animal beings to survive exposure to the planet's berthold rays. He also performed an analysis on the crops grown by the colonists. Like the rest of the Enterprise crew, DeSalle fell under the influence of the Omicron spores and mutinied, though he later recovered thanks to a subsonic transmitter. (TOS: "This Side of Paradise")

On stardate 3018, DeSalle was placed in command of the Enterprise while the rest of the command staff (including the captain, first officer, chief engineer and the helmsman) were off the ship, and spearheaded an effort to pierce the alien barrier erected by Korob to prevent the Enterprise from sending help to the landing party trapped on Pyris VII. The Enterprise crew were close to escaping the field when Korob removed it himself, as part of his effort to help the Starfleet explorers escape Sylvia's attention. (TOS: "Catspaw")

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Appendices

Appearances

• TOS:
  • "The Squire of Gothos"
  • "This Side of Paradise"
  • "Catspaw"

Background information

DeSalle was played by actor Michael Barrier. According to the Star Trek Concordance, by Bjo Trimble, DeSalle's first name was listed as "Vincent". This name could have been part of the original script material Trimble used when creating the Concordance. Diane Carey's Star Trek: New Earth novels refer to him as "Anton" (nicknamed "Tony").

The script of "This Side of Paradise" referred to the character as "Lieutenant Timothy Fletcher". However, when Michael Barrier was cast in the role, the production staff realized he had previously played a character named DeSalle in "The Squire of Gothos", and changed the name accordingly. This explains why DeSalle was a navigator in "Gothos", while he is a science officer in "Paradise" (and yet still wearing a gold uniform).[1]

DeSalle's promotion to assistant chief engineer and his change in uniform color in "Catspaw" was devised by Gene Coon. Since Scotty was in command of the bridge whenever both Kirk and Spock were on an away mission, Coon figured they would need someone in charge of engineering during these occasions. He intended to make DeSalle a recurring character, however as incoming scripts didn't feature any interaction between the bridge and main engineering in such situations, this was finally abandoned. (These Are the Voyages: TOS Season Two)

His mirror universe counterpart appeared in the novel The Sorrows of Empire.