10 Worst Injuries Star Trek Characters Actually Survived
7. Chekov Has A Ceti Eel In His Brain
This poor bugger. Chekov was promoted to Executive Officer aboard the USS Reliant when the ship was tasked with finding the perfect test site for Dr. Carol Marcus's Genesis Project. Entering the Ceti Alpha system, the ship's scanner detected a lifeform on what they thought was Ceti Alpha VI. Chekov and Captain Terrell beam down - only to discover Khan Noonian Singh, with his band of surviving supermen, waiting for them.
Ceti Alpha VI had exploded years earlier, leaving Ceti Alpha V - the planet where Kirk marooned Khan and his people - a barren wasteland. Khan's hatred for the man only grew as his people were killed by the indigenous creatures, the Ceti Eels. Their young would enter the victim through the ear canal, wrapping around the cerebral cortex, before causing madness and death.
This was the fate that awaited poor Chekov and Terrell. The eels burrowed into the men, causing them to scream out in agony. Both faced nearly certain doom. In fact, Captain Terrell only escaped the eventual death that it would bring on by turning his phaser on himself. Chekov was luckier, in a sense. The eel pushed its way out of his body, though Dr. McCoy was thankfully on hand to save the man. It was a close call, even with McCoy's help.