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Captain Hikaru Sulu: Captain, U.S.S. Excelsior. Took command around 2290, his first captaincy. On the return trip from cataloguing gaseous anomalies they were caught in the energy wave that came from the explosion of Praxis. Klingon High Command declined their offer of assistance and forwarded the information to Starfleet Command. During the Klingon trial of Captain Kirk, Sulu sent to the Enterprise that they were on standby to assist. Sulu and Excelsior attempted a rescue mission on their own by going thru the Azure Nebula but were warned off by Koloth, who was waiting there. They were able to surprise and disable his ship but three other Klingon ships attacked them, forcing them to retreat. Repairs were made and the raced towards Kithomer when the Enterprise (which had recovered Kirk and McCoy) was engaged with a prototype Bird-of-Prey, their combined firepower destroying it. Sulu personally beamed down to arrest Admiral Cartwright who was part of a Federation-Klingon-Romulan cabal to keep a war footing on between the two first powers.
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Lt. Sulu first appeared in Where No Man Has Gone Before, as head of the astrosciences department, before switching to senior helmsman in The Corbomite Maneuver. By The Motion Picture he was a Lt. Cmdr, and full Commander by The Wrath of Khan. He was helmsman for both the Enterprise and Enterprise-A. He’d been Captain of the Excelsior for 3 years by the time The Undiscovered Country rolled around.
The novels have Pavel Chekov as his Executive Officer in 2298. Excelsior was reported missing in 2308 and the surviving crew - including Sulu were rescued in 2319 by Captain Demora Sulu and the Enterprise-B. He officially retired afterwards.
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