Jon Duncan

Origin

Doctor Leonard McCoy wrote his good friend and former commander Rear Admiral James T. Kirk a series of handwritten paper letters while Admiral Kirk was assigned to Earth during the refit of the USS Enterprise. In the letters Doctor McCoy recounted the adventures of him and his partner Jon Duncan while serving in the Federation Frontier Medics Program.

Doctor Leonard McCoy, having just completed a five year mission assigned to the USS Enterprise as the ships surgeon and chief medical officer, left Starfleet as a Lieutenant Commander and was assigned with Duncan to a two man medical team as part of the Federation Frontier Medics Program patrolling and providing scheduled and emergency medical assistance to Federation colony’s and other worlds as directed.

In his letters to Admiral Kirk Doctor McCoy would say of his partner;

Jon Mikael Duncan [is] one of the best doctors I have ever seen. Or he would be, if her paid a little more attention to the basics and a little less to the experimental stuff.

Creation

Doctor Jon Duncan was created by John Byrne for the IDW comic book series Star Trek Leonard McCoy Frontier Doctor. He appeared in all four issues of the comic as McCoy’s partner.

Character Evolution

All of what is known of Duncan is what is mentioned about him by his partner Doctor McCoy. Duncan and McCoy’s first known assignment together was at the Andorian colony on the third moon of Omicron Testus IV where he assisted in saving the unborn child of the prime minister and his wife.

Duncan was romantically involved with the Andorian Theela a daughter of the House of Trelahn. The two met when Theela stowed away onboard Duncan and McCoys ship.

Major Story Arc’s

Weeds

Shortly after leaving the Andorian colony Duncan responded to a distress call and examined the colonists of the agrarian Earth Colony on Ophiucus III. It was on the way to Ophiucus III that Jon met Theela an andorian debutant that stowed away on the Joanna to escape the social trappings of her family. Theela introduced herself to Jon by kicking him in the face in an attempt to escape capture however later the two would grow much closer and fall in love. On Ophiucus III an infection presenting with high fever accelerated pulse and respiration leading to chills, dizziness, numbness, a fungus like rash and death had killed several colonists who had been working outside the colony’s walls around the native plant life. Duncan was himself infected with the virus but continued to assist in researching the pathology of the infection even while being treated by Doctor McCoy onboard the docked Joanna. After Doctor McCoy began to show signs of the infection Teela had to provide care for Jon and the other colonists of the medical team, herself being immune since the virus only infected humans. Under McCoy’s direction she produced an aerosol spray that was first tested on Duncan and immediately began to reverse the effects of the virus. After recovering Duncan and McCoy conducted aerial spraying of the colony to inoculate the rest of the inhabitants.

Error

Duncan later treated patients on Gamma Tarses VII, an ocean world pending admittance into the Federation. After exhaustive rituals of protocol, such as meeting all the hospital physicians and meeting all the family members of the patients and seeking their approval to treat their family members, Duncan was allowed to treat the Tarseans at their hospital. Duncan examined several patients and could find no cause of illnesses however the patients continued to die. It was here that Duncan made the acquaintance of Commander Montgomery Scott of Starfleet, a former crewmate of Leonard McCoy. Unfortunately Duncan and McCoy arrived on the eve of Alet Cam Tamo, a Tarsean holy day forbidding the use of tools, therefore the doctors were unable to practice for an entire day. After Doctor McCoy was confined to his ship for trespassing he and Duncan continued to work via communicator until McCoy was summoned by the Tarsean counsel for judgment. Duncan and Theela were able to find the cause of the Tarsean deaths by examining McCoy’s medical logs and following him to the council chambers where he had preformed an experiment proving his hypothesis.

Medics

Duncan would part ways with Doctor McCoy when Doctor Cobb of the Federation requested the Joanna to make a stop at a planet requiring periodic inspections by Federation vessels. The planet was last observed ten years ago while in its bronze age. Once in the atmosphere of the planet the Joanna received a missile impact and was forced to land, once on the surface The Joanna received incoming fire and was destroyed. While running from shelling Duncan became separated from McCoy and Theela who were taken captive by a faction of the warring inhabitants. Gary Seven and Roberta, a team Supervisors sent from the future that McCoy first encountered on the Enterprise’s original five year mission, are discovered on the planet and Gary explains that in 1969 while investigating a US military plot on earth to created army of cloned soldiers, the supervisors computer, Beta Five, transported all the clones to another planet outside normal space lanes. But once the inhabitants were discovered by Kloor, the Klingon know as the Bucher of Beta Trianguli, the Klingon’s began supplying them with weapons and observing them at war for entertainment. Later the dishonored Klingon began introducing women into the all male all clone society to increase the excitement for the viewers. After the arrival of McCoy and Duncan the Klingon's decided the planet would no longer be of interest since it was becoming under Federation scrutiny and they abandon it but not before trying to destroy it. Duncan, McCoy, Theela, Seven, and Roberta were saved by the USS Yorktown who destroyed the Klingon vessel in battle. Duncan and Theela decided to remain on the war torn planet and with a team of volunteer doctors and nurses from the Yorktown provide medical care and education to the inhabitants including the children who were currently in a state of severe neglect.

Powers and Abilities

In addition to being a very accomplished medical doctor Duncan is also a fully qualified pilot and navigated Federation Ship Joanna, CRN-1841, a warp capable but energy shieldless shuttle that served as transport and base of operations for him and Doctor McCoy

Teams

Duncan was a member of the Federation Frontier Medics Program where he served with his partner Doctor Leonard McCoy and their assistant Theela.