Commodore Stone was a male Human Starfleet flag officer in the 23rd century. This former starship captain was a highly decorated service veteran. In 2267, while serving in the operations division, he was the portmaster of Starbase 11.
That same year, the USS Enterprise headed to this starbase for a non-scheduled layover after being badly damaged from a recent encounter with a severe ion storm. As the Enterprise had higher priority than its sister ship USS Intrepid, Stone rescheduled Maintenance Section Eighteen to work on the former ship.
Stone found a discrepancy between Captain James T. Kirk's deposition regarding the death of Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Finney, and a significantly different computer record of the incident. Stone entertained a number of reasons why Kirk might have killed Finney, from negligence to malice. For a moment, Stone was willing to sweep the incident aside for the good of the service, by offering Kirk a permanent ground assignment. Incensed by the accusation, Kirk maintained the error was in the logs and demanded his name be cleared.
Stone convened and served as the President of the Court in the first general court martial of a Starfleet captain in the history of the service. The trial proceeded smoothly until the investigation of Spock suggested tampering on the Enterprise computers. Stone accepted defense attorney Cogley's suggestion that the court re-convene aboard the Enterprise. Confirmation of Spock's suspicions led to the revelation that Finney was indeed alive and still aboard the ship.
After Finney sabotaged the Enterprise and she began to lose orbit, Stone refused to adjourn to the starbase, and shared the risks the starship's crew faced. From the bridge, Stone and the court officers heard the "testimony" of Finney by monitoring his confrontation with Kirk. Once Kirk had defeated Finney and restored the ship's orbit, Stone dismissed the court. (TOS: "Court Martial")
Background
Stone was played by actor Percy Rodriguez. The character of Commodore Stone was the highest ranking Starfleet officer of African descent depicted in the original Star Trek.
According to the Star Trek Concordance by Bjo Trimble, Stone's first and middle initials were L.T. This information was possibly from an early draft of the script.
Apocrypha
In the novel Vulcan!, by author Kathleen Sky, Stone's first name was established as David. Cloak differed and called him Aaron Stone. The comic book story "Action of the Tiger" indicated he was later promoted to admiral.
External link
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