Mitchell Ferris was the Federation High Commissioner who was assigned to the Enterprise to oversee the delivery of vaccines to Makus III in time for their delivery to New Paris which was going through an epidemic. He was impatient and thus was not happy when Captain Kirk to stop at Murasaki 312 on the way. When seven crewmembers ended up on Taurus II, the Enterprise followed to see if they could attempt a rescue. Mitchell Ferris gave Captain Kirk a time limit within which to rescue the Galileo Seven, led by Spock. When that time limit expired, the Enterprise started to leave but not before rescuing the survivors of the Galileo Seven.