He's supporting Sulu as they limp towards the emergency beam-out site that Scotty has finally established. Sulu has a twisted ankle and gunshot wound to his shoulder, courtesy of a run-in with a gang of hill bandits. No, the planet wasn't ready for first contact, but the people of the villages around here should sleep better in future.
Sulu didn't need to step in front of that bullet for Jim, but all he said when Jim had asked why was, "because you're the captain." As though that made any sense.
They're on a planet, caught in a tense confrontation with the settlers, Jim, Stevenson, who is also on the Command track and Spock. "We will hold your leader, while you return to your ship and deliver our demands to them. We will hold him until our demands are met."
They grabbed Spock, so Jim stepped forward. "I'm the captain."
"Mr. Kirk, restrain yourself. I'm sorry, my crew are very loyal. I'm sure they will do their best to complete their demands."
Of course, they got Spock back, sorted the settlers out, and fulfilled their original mission. That doesn't stop Jim visiting Spock in his quarters to ask what the hell he thought he was doing. "I believe my course of action was logical. The settlers believed that I was the captain because my clothing was different to yours and Lieutenant Stevenson's. If they took me hostage instead of you, it would mean the mission commander was safe. The needs of the mission were best served in this way."
Uhura just flat out saves his ass when his temper gets the better of him. He tells the Tyrellian fleet commander exactly what he thinks of him. She steps up so that she's level with Kirk and starts speaking what he has to assume is Tyrellian. The one bit he understands is "universal translator" and a hand action that can only mean broken.
When they're in a turbolift later, she turns round to him. "If you want to get gutted by a laser-knife, tell me and I'll do it."
There's a gambling hall on Bretari 6 that Starfleet thinks might have a connection to the Orion Syndicate. The Enterprise is told to investigate, and Jim volunteers himself. He's about twenty thousand credits in the hole and sinking fast when Chekov comes in, dressed to the nines. He proceeds to break Jim, who's out next hand, and then the house. Chekov then uses the stupid amounts of credits they owe him to get them the leverage they need to buy into the house, and Chekov becomes the frontman for the plan. When it's all finished with, and he's writing Chekov up for a commendation, Jim asks him why. "Blackjack is maths, Captain, and I can do that for you."
There's a small problem with the ship's engines. They're about one percent less efficient than they should be and of course he'd like them fixed. That doesn't mean he expects Scotty and Keenser to be spending their time off in Ten Forward talking about it.
"You're supposed to be off-duty."
"Och, you know how it is. I don't like it when the old lady is upset." Keenser said something. "Of course I've tried that." Keenser said something else. "What do you mean, only when the positron field was set to 3? I'll show you." Without saying anything else to Kirk, they rushed out of Ten Forward, presumably to Engineering.
"Have they not heard of relaxation?"
"You arrive on the bridge in the middle of Gamma shift, four hours before Alpha shift begins. I don't think you can say anything." Gaila might have a point.
A messy situation that got worse lead to Jim needing a blood transfusion. He's surprised to wake up already receiving the blood, he has an unusual serotype and its always been difficult to find donors before.
Jim sees Bones in his office on the other side of Sickbay, so he tries to get up so that he can speak to him.
"Jim Kirk, lie back down this instant." Okay, so maybe it wasn't a great plan. Bones used his right hand to hold Jim down on the bed while he checked that all the IV lines were still where he'd left them. He only lets go once he's sure Jim hasn't disturbed anything.
"Thanks for this," Jim pointed at the site of the transfusion. "How did you get hold of any?"
"The four crew-members who're a match for your blood type were down here before I could even ask." Jim can feel himself blushing, because they hadn't needed to do that, he would have been okay with replicator plasma. "Jim, I realise you're set on being a great captain even if it kills you, but we're all happier with you being here and alive. Now go back to sleep, I promise I'll wake you if anything happens."