Richard Sterling

Richard doesn’t consider himself a hardliner by any means, but he does expect to be respected. Much like a manager overseeing many different departments at a business, he prefers to be at the 30,000 foot level while trusting his staff to focus on the details. He believes that his time in Starfleet may be coming to a head soon, having to make a decision on whether or not to keep going into old age, or quit soon to retire away from the fleet.

Like any hot-shot out of the academy, Richard thought that space was his oyster. However, once it became clear that there was much work that had to be put in to get any respect, things became… less appealing to him. He has always strived to do his best, but his eyes and ambitions have always wandered to what was appealing to him at the time.

Richard has one child, Alyssa, whom he fathered with a Bajoran woman named Joya Salre while stationed in the Gamma Quadrant at a Starfleet facility on New Bajor. She is now in Starfleet Academy. He has one brother, Kyle, who lives at home on Earth with his wife and three children. Kyle is a doctor working in private practice after serving in the the Starfleet Medical Corps. Richard also enjoys hanging out with his nieces and nephew: Juliet, Victoria, and Paul – his brother’s children.

Richard grew up on Earth with his brother Kyle in the mid-atlantic region of North America known as the Carolinas. His father served in Starfleet and so there was a natural disposition for both him and his brother to follow. They both did, Richard going through an Engineering track while Kyle went into Medicine. After the academy, Richard was assigned to various assignments before the Dominion War where he honed his skills as an able engineer. He worked with some of the finest minds in the field and learned how to get himself out of many no-win situations.

During the Dominion War, Richard was assigned to the USS Liberty, which flew two successful missions into the Gamma Quadrant against the Dominion. The Liberty participated in the Invasion of Cardassia and returned safely to Federation space. After the war, Richard was assigned to the Federation colony on New Bajor. He spent nearly seven years there working to expand the colony as more citizens were seeking a new and exciting life in the Gamma Quadrant.

During his service on New Bajor, Richard fell in love with a Bajoran woman named Joya Salre. Together, they had one child, whom they named Alyssa. When Richard was reassigned, shipside to the USS Kearsarge he tried to convince Joya to come with him and live aboard the ship. She unfortunately did not want to leave her home. Knowing that he couldn’t raise a child alone, Richard left New Bajor leaving Alyssa to stay with her mother. She is currently enrolled in Starfleet Academy.

Dick served as the Chief Engineer on the USS Kearsarge and Utopia, rising to the rank of Commander. Yearning for a new adventure, Richard put forth his name into the command pool after taking the command training course while on the Kearsarge. He was chosen to command the USS Armstrong, an Intrepid class ship who saw service during the Dominion War. She was part of a task group of ships assigned to boost a Federation presence in the Raeyan Sector after Starfleet had officially pulled out three years earlier.

After a short posting as the CO of the Armstrong, Dick was was reassigned to the Chief of Engineering for Starbase Bravo, home to Starfleet’s Fourth Fleet. In this position, he oversees the reactor engineering department, facility maintenance, and shipyard operations.