Random comments:
MAGolding's analysis of Kirk's rank development is fine - but there's no pressing reason to assume Garrovick would have been the man Kirk went to snitch about Finney's life-endangering mistake. We know Kirk is an instructor to Mitchell at the specific rank of Lieutenant, meaning he is at the Academy; quite possibly, he has not yet "left the Academy", then, despite having served as Ensign aboard assorted starships.
There are dedicated training ships in the Fleet in the 24th century (one of them named the Republic, even!). Cadets are to be found aboard all sorts of ships, including the Discovery, but this is apparently in addition to the sort of ships that do not actually serve in the front lines. And there is Academy training other than that involving Cadets: postgraduates may be studying separately to attain command competence, culminating in the no-win scenario test. Now, Kirk took his while still a Cadet, but Saavik did not (and Spock never did, establishing the optionality); all sorts of openings for an Ensign assigned to the Academy to teach or study aboard a starship.
On the other hand, Kirk's odd emphasis on how Garrovick stayed with him could directly be taken as implying that Garrovick went through unusual hoops there, including a transfer... But if we look for unusual wordings, "leaving the Academy" instead of "graduating" could also be taken as a significant distinction.
As for Commodore, we know little about the lowest of the five flag ranks in the post-TOS-movie era. But there are five pips to be had in the final incarnation of the rank scheme; the one-pipper should be one step lower than Rear Admiral and two steps below Vice Admiral by strong precedent. Yet we know that Picard would have hopped from Captain straight to Admiral of some color in "Coming of Age", and the early pipless flag officers all are called Admiral just like their one- and two-pipped counterparts.
If anything, then, we have slots open for two flag ranks to replace Commodore: the one-pip Rear Admiral, Lower Half and the zero-pip Bottom Admiral... But we can also combine them to one (even if it makes the early TNG pip scheme byzantine indeed) and call that whatever we wish, including something dignified for a chance. But squeezing Commodore back in would appear utterly futile.
Timo Saloniemi
I think that my analysis of Kirk's career is the most logical and reasonable one. However, it is always possible for an alternate version to be correct, and some people might find reason to support one.
In
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) we meet Kirk's son, Doctor David Marcus, son of Doctor Carol Marcus. David was portrayed by Merritt Butrick who was 22 or 23 and who was a high school student in
The Square Pegs in 1982-83. But it is usual to earn a PHD a few years older than 22 or 23. Maybe 23rd century education is more advanced, maybe David was precocious, or maybe David was 25 or older.
If David was about 25 in
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) which was "fifteen years" after "Space Seed" David should have been about 10 in "Space Seed".
Arbitrarily assuming that David Marcus was aged 25.0 to 30.00 in
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), and that Kirk and Khan's "fifteen years" was a very approximate 14.0 to 17.0 years, David would have been about 8.0 to 16.00 in "Space Seed". Arbitrarily assuming that second season episodes like "A Private Little War" and "Obsession" were sometime between 0.5 and 2.0 years after "Space Seed", that would make David about 8.5 to 18.0 in those episodes.
So if David was about 8.5 to 18.0 in "A Private Little War" and "Obsession", he would have been about minus 6.5 to plus 6.0 to when Lieutenant Kirk made a planetary survey "thirteen years" (12.0 to 15.0 years) before "A Private Little War" and about minus 4.5 to plus 8.0 when Lieutenant Kirk and the
Farragut were attacked by the space vampire cloud "eleven years" (10.0 to 13.0) before "Obsession".
Thus Dr. David Marcus should have been conceived and born about the same time, give or take a few years, as Lieutenant Kirk was making a planetary survey and the vampire space cloud attacked the starship
Farragut with Lieutenant Kirk aboard.
According to my reconstruction of Kirk's career, after the
Farragut disaster Kirk returned to Starfleet Academy on Earth as an instructor.
In "Where No Man Has Gone Before":
MITCHELL: Well, I'm getting a chance to read some of that longhair stuff you like. Hey man, I remember you back at the academy. A stack of books with legs. The first thing I ever heard from upperclassmen was, Watch out for Lieutenant Kirk. In his class, you either think or sink.
KIRK: I wasn't that bad, was I?
MITCHELL: If I hadn't aimed that little blonde lab technician at you
KIRK: You what? You planned that?
MITCHELL: Well, you wanted me to think, didn't you? I outlined her whole campaign for her.
KIRK: I almost married her!
Many fans prefer to think that the "little blonde lab technician" was the future Dr. Carol Marcus.
Since upperclassmen warned new cadet Mitchell about Lieutenant Kirk's class, Kirk must have been teaching it for at least one academic year. If the course lasted for at least 3 months, it is possible that Mitchell introduced Kirk to the possible Carol Marcus about 1.0 to 1.25 years after Kirk first started teaching at the Academy. Thus David might have been conceived as early as when he would have been about minus 3.5 to plus 9.25 according to my calculations.
Of course it could have taken some time for Kirk to return to Earth and start teaching after the
Farragut disaster
. Kirk might have taught his class for several years before Mitchell entered the Academy. Kirk and Carol Marcus could have been dating for months or years before David was conceived. Some fans would say that in this hypothetical situation either David was an unusually young PHD or else he must have been conceived before the
Farragut disaster.
The time between Lieutenant Kirk's first planetary survey and the
Farragut disaster could be between minus one year and five years. Thus it is possible that Ensign Kirk was promoted to lieutenant on the
Republic, made his first planetary survey, went to Earth to become an instructor at Starfleet Academy for at least two years, became David Marcus's father, was assigned to the
Farragut and got to know Captain Garrovick very well over months or years before the space vampire cloud attacked. But some fans many doubt that there would have been enough time between Kirk's first planetary survey and the
Farragut disaster for Kirk to get to know Garrovick very well.
Or possibly Ensign Kirk on the
Republic was promoted to lieutenant and went to Earth to teach, fathered David Marcus, and then was assigned to the
Farragut under Captain Garrovick before making his first planetary survey. David would have been born a few years earlier.
In "A Private Little War":
SPOCK: Aside from that, you say it's a Garden of Eden?
KIRK: Or so it seemed to the brash young Lieutenant Kirk on his first planet survey.
Kirk doesn't specify how long he was a lieutenant before making the survey. Thus it is possible that he was a lieutenant and instructor at Starfleet Academy for at least two years before going out into space again.
IMHO the desire to equate Carol Marcus with the "little blonde lab technician" and make enough time for David to become a PHD is the only reason to not have Kirk serve under Captain Garrovick on both the
Republic and the
Farragut starting when Kirk was commissioned ensign.
