Hikaru Sulu

For the mirror universe counterpart, see Hikaru Sulu (mirror).

For the counterpart in the timeline created by Nero's incursion, see Hikaru Sulu (alternate reality).

Hikaru Sulu was an officer in Starfleet during the 23rd and 24th centuries. During his career, he served aboard the USS Enterprise, USS Enterprise-A, the USS Excelsior and at Starfleet Academy.

Overview

Sulu was born in San Francisco (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) on Earth in 2237. By 2265, he had graduated from Starfleet Academy and was assigned as an astrophysicist and later alpha-shift helmsman aboard USS Enterprise. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before", "The Corbomite Maneuver") He remained with the Enterprise until some time prior to 2285. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

After the conclusion of James T. Kirk's first five-year mission as captain of Enterprise, Sulu undertook the two-year regimen of Command training at the Academy. (Absolute Horizon)

In 2271, his daughter, future USS Enterprise-B helmsman Demora Sulu, was born. (Star Trek Generations, TOS novel: The Captain's Daughter)

In the late 2270s or early 2280s, Sulu commanded the USS Robert A. Heinlein, which went missing in the 140 Trianguli region. Enterprise was assigned to find the Heinlein and her officers and crew. (Star Trek: The Kobayashi Alternative computer game)

Before 2285, Sulu started teaching at the Academy, serving aboard the Enterprise, now serving as a training vessel. The assignment ended after the conflict with Khan Noonien Singh and the Genesis incident. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) Sulu also accompanied James Kirk and the others, stealing the Enterprise to reintegrate Spock's katra with his body on the Genesis planet. (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) He also time-traveled with the other Enterprise senior officers aboard the Klingon Bird-of-Prey HMS Bounty to 1986 to gain two humpback whales and save Earth from the whale probe. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)

Upon their return to 23rd century Earth, saving it from the probe, Sulu and the others were court martialed, which was dismissed. He hoped to be assigned to the Excelsior but was assigned to the new Enterprise-A. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) He was influenced by Sybok when the latter hijacked the Enterprise-A to find "Sha Ka Ree" in 2287. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

Sulu took command of the Excelsior in 2290 and, in 2293, assisted Kirk and the Enterprise-A in ensuring the Khitomer Conference continued and helped to prevent the attempted assassinations of both Federation President Ra-ghoratreii and Klingon Chancellor Azetbur. (VOY: "Flashback"; Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: Hidden Frontier: "Yesterday's Excelsior")

Captain Sulu commanded Excelsior at least through 2320. (ST novel: Burning Dreams)

USS Voyager first officer Chakotay claimed a male "Captain Sulu" supported his application for Starfleet Academy in 2344. It remains unclear if this was Hikaru Sulu, his daughter Demora, or another Sulu. (VOY: "Tattoo", novel: Pathways)

After retiring from Starfleet in the 2320s, Sulu ran for public office and eventually was elected as President of the United Federation of Planets in 2328. He took office in 2329 and served three terms until 2340. (Shatnerverse novel: The Return; Star Trek: Pendragon)

Pocket Books continuities

Enterprise: The First Adventure

Hikaru Sulu's mother was a consulting agronomist and his father a poet. The family moved around a lot, but had spent some time on the colony world of Ganjitsu. As a 12-year-old, one of the young Sulu's instructors had been George Samuel Kirk, Jr.

Sulu was a lieutenant straight out of Starfleet Academy, graduating in 2264 (making his birth year 2242). He had been on the Academy fencing team but was snubbed by many of his teammates because of his colonist background.

He had looked forward to a first assignment on the Border Patrol, on the Aerfen under Captain Hunter, but Kirk pulled strings to get him on Enterprise as helmsman.

Sulu had never met Kirk nor Spock prior to this. (TOS novel: Enterprise: The First Adventure)

Forged in Fire

Hikaru Sulu was posted as executive officer of the Excelsior, reporting to Captain Styles, until the Korvat conference in late 2289, where a bomb killed several Federation and Klingon personnel, including Styles. (Star Trek: Excelsior novel: Forged in Fire)

The Kobayashi Maru

Hikaru Sulu attended Starfleet Academy's Command School at age 24 (i.e., 2261) before being assigned to Enterprise. (TOS novel: The Kobayashi Maru)

Shatnerverse

Hikaru Sulu was the only three-term President of the United Federation of Planets. The dates of his terms in office are unspecified. (TOS novel: The Return)

Fanon

Orion Press

In this continuity, Hikaru Sulu was born in 2241. (Orion Press: "Walking on Broken Glass")

Hikaru Sulu had earned a doctorate in astrophysics, among his many accomplishments. (Chekov's Enterprise)

Before assuming command of the Excelsior, Sulu commanded a science ship, the USS Cooper. His executive officer was Commander Xon. (The Dianasian Gift)

As a commanding officer, Sulu was often dictatorial and, with peers, full of himself. (Chekov's Enterprise, "Walking on Broken Glass")

After Pavel Chekov became captain of the Enterprise-B in the mid-2290s, Sulu alienated Chekov by often condescending to him and by pulling seniority on him during the search for the Jenolen. (Chekov's Enterprise)

In late 2295, Sulu took a leave of absence from command of the Excelsior after a reprimand by Starfleet Commander-in-Chief Lystra Davis and the apparent end of his friendship with Chekov. ("Walking on Broken Glass", "Departures", "Pythia") Many of Excelsior's senior staff, including Janice Rand, Lojur and Tuvok, requested transfers elsewhere, which were approved. ("Warp Speed")

In 2371, an aging Captain Sulu and Captain Montgomery Scott visited the Maquis ship of Chakotay and B'Elanna Torres sometime before the ship was lost in the Badlands. Later, they would receive a message from Peter Kirk informing them that James T. Kirk's body had been recovered after 78 years. ("The Way Back")

Officers of the starship Excelsior
	CO	XO	SO	HELM	NAV	SCI	CMO	ENG	TAC	SEC
NX-2000/ NCC-2000 (Orion Press}:	Styles | Sulu	Rand | Floyd	Lojur	Lojur | Fulton	Jaeger | Harden | Parker	Valtane | Jordan | Tork	Cord	Maliszewski	Farley | Peterson	Brai
NX-2000/NCC-2000

Star Trek: Challenger Chronicles

In November of 2290, Captain Sulu was overall commander of Task Force 31. Accompanying the task force on a mission to the Laskahni Confederation was a 7th Fleet battle group, consisting of USS Challenger-A, USS Tai Shan, USS Intrepid II and USS Thagard. (Star Trek: Challenger Chronicles: USS Challenger Timeline, version 931124)

Star Trek: Phase II

Sulu undertook the Academy Command-training regimen in the middle of the five-year mission, and was promoted to lieutenant commander. (Star Trek: Phase II: "Center Seat")

At some point in the late 2290s or early 2300s, Sulu's daughter Demora had a daughter, whom she named Alana after a request from her father. On the first meeting between the elder Sulu and his granddaughter, he explained to Demora that she had a half-sister in another timeline. ("World Enough and Time")

Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

According to Captain Uhura's personal log in 2306, Sulu and the Excelsior were engaged in a three-year exploratory mission of the Gamma Quadrant, and thus unable to attend the launch of the USS Enterprise-M.

How the Excelsior managed to travel at least 30,000 light years to the Gamma Quadrant's nearest edge is unknown. It is also possible that the writers of Of Gods and Men made an error.

Yorktown: A Time to Heal

During a time between the end of Kirk's first five-year-mission and the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Sulu was executive officer on the USS Yorktown.

Service jacket

		Physicist	Lieutenant, USS Enterprise	2265
		Helmsman, tactical officer	Lieutenant, USS Enterprise	2265-2270
		Helmsman, tactical officer	Lieutenant Commander, USS Enterprise	2270-2285
		Instructor	Commander, Starfleet Academy	2285-2287
		Helmsman, tactical officer	Commander, USS Enterprise-A	2287-2290
		Commanding officer	Captain, USS Excelsior	2290-

External links

• Hikaru Sulu article at Memory Alpha, the canon Star Trek wiki.
• Hikaru Sulu article at Memory Beta, the non-canon Star Trek wiki.