An embittered Starfleet officer and old friend of Kirk, who faked his own death to frame the captain for negligence.
Benjamin Finney served with Kirk years earlier and resented him for logging an error that cost Finney his chance at command. Aboard the Enterprise as records officer, he appears to be killed when Kirk jettisons an ion pod during a storm, and Kirk is charged with negligence at Starbase 11.
In fact Finney had altered the ship's computer records and hidden aboard. Spock discovers the tampering when he beats the computer at chess, and a sensor sweep that filters out every heartbeat but one reveals Finney is still alive. He was played by Richard Webb.