Athonar cha’Barel

Athonar was the second son of two diplomats assigned to the Romulan Embassy on Earth when he was born. To prevent him from bad influence in the Federation he was sent to his grandparents, who took care of him. At school he had shown talent as a speaker at school and had shown great interest in laws and law enforcement. Hence it is not surprising that he was sent to a public college to prepare for studies in laws before his Pylanazi. However, after his naming ceremony was over, he confessed to his parents that he had been in contact with a Tal’Shiar recruiter already and that he would join the agency the next day. This was a shock for his parents, but he had made his decision. After five years basic training at different Tal’Shiar facilities, he was transferred to his first post in the Mind War Division, Department of Propaganda.
As a young Uhlan in the Propaganda Department his primary job was to assist in the development of campaigns to ensure the loyalty of citizens. His ability as a speaker soon caught the attention of his superiors and they gave him the opportunity to apply to advanced courses in psychology and rhetorics. Of course he accepted, although it would mean a delay to promotion. After six years he was promoted to sublieutenant and became leader of a team of five Uhlans, two years later he was promoted to lieutenant and became personal speech-writer for the department head, Colonel T’Laris t’Verinor. The older woman soon became a supporter of his further career.

On his own request, he was transferred to the Interrogation and Brainwashing Department in 2240. There, he made himself a name for being able to get results without ever using torture. Athonar became known as a good listener and polite person, someone who could get a connection to the subjects being interrogated. He received further training for foreign species psychology and languages. Since latest 2250 he is fluent in Cardassian, Klingon, Raeyan and Federation Standard. During the language courses he met a fellow lieutenant, T’Eleijha t’Tela. He found the young woman attractive and they soon found out that not only they liked each other, but their Houses would also profit from a marriage. After all formalities had been dealt with between their Houses, they were allowed to marry in 2252.

A year later, Athonar was transferred to the Internal Security Division as field agent. His skills made him the ideal agent to find and hunt down traitors and foreign spies. In 2254 he was promoted to captain and led his own team of investigators. A year later his first child, a daughter, Ael, was born. Despite his success, he did not like his job and believed his skills were wasted. He requested a transfer to the Special Operations Division, which was confirmed in 2257.

He received five years of training for special operations before his first assignment. However, instead of serving as field agent in foreign territory, he was assigned as Tal’Shiar Attaché to the Romulan Embassy on Cardassia. His primary job was that of a case officer for their network of agents. He stayed there for five years before he was re-assigned to Tal’Shiar Headquarters on Romulus.

Athonar was back in the Mind War Division’s Department of Interrogation and Brainwashing and led a team responsible for counter-intelligence. He developed a strong network with fellow officers from the Intelligence Analysis Division and the Internal Security Division. In 2269 his son, Velok, was born. His success in counter-intelligence got him a promotion to the rank of major four years later. He was responsible for all counter-intelligence activities of the Interrogation and Brainwashing Department. This included the development of brainwashing activities to turn hostile spies into double agents. It was a job he liked, which makes it no wonder that he stayed on this position for 38 years. Within this period, in 2285, his second daughter S’anra had been born.

In 2311 he was transferred to the Propaganda Department to serve as operations manager for the department. This made him deputy to the department head. He ran the department’s operations for 23 years before he received a promotion to colonel and transfer to the Internal Security Division as operations manager, where he stayed for ten years.

His next position was that of operations manager of the Special Operations Divisions. He was able to increase efficiency despite the difficulties arising from the isolation which had been chosen by the Senate. Things were extremely difficult, but at least he was close to his family. All his three children had become Tal’Shiar officers, Ael in Intelligence Analysis Division, Velok in Military Affairs Division, S’anra in Mind War Division. In 2354 Athonar was promoted to vice-director of Special Operations. He had become a well-known leader in the agency and with his network of fellow officers he started to build in 2267, he was well-connected with upper echelon of all Tal’Shiar Divisions. Then, in 2379, Shinzon killed all Senators and chaos broke out. The Tal’Shiar itself had to face questions of their usefulness as they obviously had failed to protect the Empire. In 2380, Athonar was a member of a committee with the purpose to investigate how the Internal Security Division could have failed to discover Shinzon’s plot. He soon led the committee and developed a plan of action to reform Internal Security. To ensure that the plan was properly executed, he became temporary director of Internal Security from 2381 to 2385.

At the end of 2385 Senator Tomek tr’Barel asked Athonar to run for a seat in the Senate. Athonar discussed this with his superiors in the Tal’Shiar and they encouraged him to take the opportunity. So he ran for the seat of Khazara. With the support of both, his House and the Tal’Shiar, it was no wonder that he won the elections. After being elected, he moved his residence to the Khazara system, to be easier to access for the people. With his residence there, both him and his wife were save from the Hobus supernova. His children were also safe as their assignments were in different places at that time.

Athonar kept his rank in the Tal’Shiar, but with an unspecified position. This gives him access to all intelligence up to gal’ruta tru security classification.