Xavier Vance

Early Life:

Xavier Vance grew up on a 50-acre farm outside Texarkana, a city straddling the Texas-Arkansas border. His parents, Christopher and Linda, were part of a small, tight-knit community that valued self-sufficiency over modern conveniences. Unlike the rest of the Federation, which had largely abandoned traditional agriculture in favor of replicators, the Vances and their neighbors chose to live off the land. They grew their own food, raised livestock, and traded what they couldn’t consume.

But their way of life made them outcasts. Traditional meat consumption had become an uncomfortable relic of the past, rendered unnecessary due to replicators. To outsiders, their farm was a stubborn relic of the past—quaint at best, primitive at worst. While their crops were valued in trade, the idea of butchering animals for food met with open disapproval, seen as cruel and unenlightened.

By Federation standards, the Vances were poor. They had no replicators, no formal schooling, and no integration into modern society. But they had something else—land, family, and hard-earned skills.

Xavier was the third of four children, growing up alongside his older brothers, Chris Jr. and David, and his younger sister, Michelle. Like all the Vance children, he was homeschooled, but their education was more practical than academic. Linda did her best, but physics and literature didn’t put food on the table. The real lessons came from the land—learning to mend fences, rotate crops, tend livestock, and survive.

But Xavier wanted more.

Dreams Beyond the Horizon

After the farmwork was done at night, he would lose himself in books, Treasure Island, Moby-Dick, and Dune—stories of grand adventures across oceans and distant stars. He imagined himself at the helm of a starship, standing where explorers and captains had stood before him. Or perhaps ordering a broadside from the bridge of a grand ship-of-the-line against pirates or the detestable French.

Then, at sixteen, he read Jonathan Archer’s autobiography. From that point on, he wanted something more than a farm of his own; he wanted to travel the stars. He knew he had to leave from that moment to be a Starfleet officer.

But dreams didn’t change reality. He had no transcripts or formal education and barely enough knowledge to pass a basic aptitude test. Starfleet Academy required years of rigorous schooling, and he had nothing but the farm’s lessons and a handful of books.

Still, he tried.

At seventeen, Xavier took the Starfleet Academy entrance exam and failed spectacularly. His mother, though sympathetic, was relieved. His father, however, was quietly heartbroken. Christopher had spent his entire life of hard graft under the sun with no real change in sight. He didn’t want that for his children, least of all for Xavier—the only one who dared to dream beyond the farm.

So, Christopher made a choice. He found help.

The Hardest Road

Galin Thurgood was a retired Academy professor who had settled in Texarkana. He agreed to tutor Xavier for free. Christopher, too proud to accept charity, struck a deal: one bag of fresh produce a week, and Xavier would handle the upkeep of Thurgood’s lawn and home.

For three grueling years, Xavier split his time between farmwork and study. By day, he was a farmer, plowing fields, fixing irrigation lines, and milking cows. By night, Xavier was a student, memorizing equations and dissecting star charts. He struggled with subjects he should have learned a decade earlier. Some nights, he never slept, finishing homework to head straight to the barn before dawn.

He failed practice exams. He doubted himself. There were moments when he almost gave up. But then, he would remember the endless fields stretching beyond the farm. The same fields his father had spent a lifetime breaking his back over. If he stayed, this would be his future. And as much as he loved his family, he couldn’t accept that.

In 2371, at age twenty, Xavier retook the Starfleet entrance exam. This time, he passed.

Barely.

But barely was enough. Xavier Vance was accepted into the Academy’s class of 2375. When he left the farm for the last time, his father shook his hand, a gesture of quiet pride. His mother held him too long, whispering, “Don’t forget where you came from.”

Starfleet Academy:

Vance worked long days and nights for three years to earn a place at the Academy. But once accepted, he found himself burned out. The newfound distractions of living alone only made matters worse, and Vance struggled to keep up academically. Already behind his peers in education, he spent his entire time at the Academy on academic probation.

Vance chose to major in Security/Tactical Sciences, figuring it would be one of the easier paths through the Academy. While he coasted through his general education courses, he struggled to stay engaged and often did just enough to pass. However, Vance showed a natural aptitude that set him apart in strategy and tactics. Growing up on that East Texas farm, he had strength and endurance that many of his classmates lacked. Thus, the physical aspects of his training came easily to him.

Vance quickly earned a reputation as an infamous prankster. During the final week of his sophomore year, he reprogrammed every Academy replicator to serve nothing but pecan pie, much to the amusement of his classmates—and the faculty’s frustration. In another stunt, he smuggled a live chicken into the Commandant’s office, where the bird promptly did what birds do, leaving an unholy mess in its wake. As punishment, Vance spent the remainder of the semester cleaning the office with his toothbrush. His legendary antics made him popular amongst the student body and attracted his instructors’ scrutiny.

Despite his struggles, Vance made many friendships at the Academy. Thaddius Young, a fellow human cadet, and Malin Prin, a mischievous Bajoran, became two of his closest friends, often involved in his pranks. Thaddius tried to be the voice of reason and usually failed to keep Vance in check. Malin, however, enthusiastically encouraged his more reckless tendencies.

At the Academy, Vance also met Malinda Davis, who would one day become his wife. They met in Alien Languages class, a course Vance was struggling with. Spotting an opportunity to spend time with the beautiful and intelligent Malinda, he convinced her to tutor him—something he genuinely needed, though she never suspected his ulterior motive. At the end of the semester, he asked her out after barely scraping by with a passing grade on the final. She was reluctant at first, but to his surprise, she accepted.

With the Dominion War escalating and Starfleet desperate for officers, the Academy condensed its training program. Already struggling academically, Vance quickly fell further behind. He likely would have been expelled without Malinda’s relentless tutoring and Starfleet’s urgent demand for graduates.

On May 16, 2374, Xavier Vance graduated last in his class with a Security & Tactical Sciences degree. With more prestigious postings taken by his higher-ranking peers, his only option was a frontline ground assignment on Talius V—one of the war’s bloodiest battlefields.

The Dominion War:

Talius V

Assigned to Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Regiment of the 92nd Security Division, Vance became a junior platoon leader. Transitioning from the relative comfort of Starfleet Academy to the gritty and perilous frontline was a daunting challenge. Many of his fellow replacements crumbled under pressure, but despite his terror, Vance managed to channel his fear and perform his duties as a soldier.

Talius V, a strategic planet within Federation space along the Cardassian border, was a vital supply and logistics hub. The planet’s rocky and tree-covered terrain allowed the Jem’Hadar to appear without warning and disappear into the foliage just as swiftly. The constant threat kept Vance and his unit on high alert, forging them into a resilient, battle-hardened team.

Delta Company received orders to capture Hill 34 at the end of June. It was a worthless chunk of rock that offered neither side any real strategic advantage, but they fought for it because the enemy was there. All night long, Starfleet runabouts and other small craft rained down micro-photon torpedoes, lighting up the night sky in brilliant flashes of antimatter explosions. The screams and shouts of pain from the Jem’hadar sent chills down the spines of the waiting Starfleet officers.

At dawn, the order came. The company commander led the charge, convinced the bombardment had broken the enemy’s will. Vance’s 3rd Platoon advanced up the steepest section, using jagged boulders and scorched tree trunks as cover. The climb was eerily quiet. No resistance. No return fire.

Vance had studied the battles of old—Peleliu and Iwo Jima. He knew better than to trust a battlefield left conveniently empty. Vance held his troops back and ordered them into cover just below the summit. He scanned the ridgeline from his position, searching for movement for anything out of place.

Emboldened by their lack of resistance, the rest of the company burst on top of Hill 34, only for the Jem’hadar, who had hidden within underground bunkers, to emerge, the purple beams of their polo-run rifles cutting through the early morning fog. Dozens of Starfleet soldiers fell in the initial volley unprotected. It would have been a slaughter had not for 3rd Platoon returning fire.

Despite the chaos erupting around him, Vance acted without hesitation. As Jem’Hadar fire raked through Delta Company’s ranks, he darted from cover, dragging the wounded to safety while polaron beams slashed through the air. With the company commander and executive officer both killed in the initial assault, command had fallen to him. Rallying the remaining troops, he organized a retreat to a more defensible position along the ridgeline, using the terrain to their advantage.

Recognizing the risk of encirclement, Vance swiftly repositioned 2nd Platoon, ordering them into a flanking maneuver to counter any Jem’Hadar attempts to outmaneuver their line. Under relentless fire, Delta Company held its ground, fighting through the long hours of the day as casualties mounted and supplies dwindled. The brutal engagement tested the limits of their endurance, but Vance’s leadership and tactical awareness prevented the complete collapse of the unit.

As dusk approached, reinforcements from Alpha and Charlie Companies arrived, finally allowing Starfleet forces to dislodge the entrenched Jem’Hadar. When the fighting subsided, Hill 34 lay in Starfleet’s hands—an unremarkable patch of scorched earth won at a terrible cost.

For Vance, the battle was a defining moment in his career. He had survived and proven himself as a capable leader under fire, earning the trust and respect of those who fought alongside him. After the brutal engagement, the 15th Regiment was pulled from the front lines to regroup and recover. However, their respite was brief. A month later, Talius V fell to the Dominion, forcing Starfleet to abandon the planet. Delta Company and the rest of the regiment were redeployed, taking up a new defensive position at Outpost Delta-9, another frontline station besieged by a fearsome enemy.