The Enterprise responds to a distress call in the L370 system and discovers that something has destroyed almost every planet in the system. They also find its sister ship the U.S.S. Constellation, which has been badly damaged. The captain of the Constellation, Commodore Matt Decker, says that his crew evacuated to one of the pulverized planets and was lost, and the attacker was a giant robot "doomsday machine". Kirk is stranded on the Constellation when the doomsday machine attacks again, and the shell-shocked Decker tries to take command of the Enterprise to lead a futile attack.
Star Trek chronicles the 23rd century adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise, one of twelve state-of-the-art starships representing Starfleet, the exploration branch of the United Federation of Planets, an alliance of alien races including Earth, Vulcan, Tellar, and Andor.
Captain James T. Kirk, the youngest starship captain in the Fleet, commands the Enterprise with a combination of brashness, authority, and imagination. The half-Vulcan/half-human Mr. Spock serves as his extremely logical and efficient First Officer and Science Officer. The ship's chief medical officer is Dr. Leonard McCoy, who has supreme medical authority on the ship and tends to the physical and mental needs of the Enterprise's crew of approximately 430.
Other ranking crew members include: Montgomery Scott, a man dedicated to his ship engines but not adverse to a bit of shore leave; Hikaru Sulu, helmsman and a man of many hobbies ranging from botany to fencing, Nyota Uhura, the extremely competent head of Communications, and Pavel Chekov, brash young navigator with a fierce pride in his native Russia.