James Preston McCallister

Political Information

• Affiliation: Starfleet, United Federation of Planets

Family

• Mother: Francesca McCallister
• Father: Jack McCallister
• Brother: Conrad McCallister, Starfleet Captain (retired)
• Brother: Horatio McCallister, Starfleet Captain of the USS Bellerophon (NCC-74705)
• Wife: Karyn Reyas, Starfleet Commander (missing in action)
• Son: Theodore McCallister-Reyas
• Son: Alfie McCallister-Reyas, Starfleet Cadet of the USS Odyssey (NCC-80000)
• Son: Henri McCallister-Reyas
• Sister-in-law: Laura McCallister, Starfleet Captain (retired) – married to Conrad.

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Biography

Early Life

James Preston McCallister was born in Cape May, New Jersey, United States of America on Earth to Francesca and Jack McCallister on November 22nd, 2351. Ultimately becoming the middle child of three boys, James grew up in his family’s run hotel (The Red Lion) and shared his brothers’ taste for adventure among the stars. This was to the displeasure of their parents, who taught their boys to enjoy the simple things in life with little or less technology to help them. Being the middle son, James sometimes resented his other two brothers due to the more attention they received from their parents.

When his older brother, Conrad, left home to attend Starfleet Academy it caused quite a lot of upset for the family. Both Francesca and Jack were against their sons joining Starfleet, hoping they would remain closer to home and avoid the service entirely. Conrad’s departure gave James the opportunity to come closer to his younger brother Horatio. The two would often be seen around town together, sharing their interests with their friends. This included a number of sports they enjoyed doing together, including soccer, tennis, basketball and swimming. He and his brothers also went camping often when they were old enough not to have their parents supervising them.

During his secondary school education, James excelled in mathematics, computer science and physics. Without his parents’ knowledge, he attended a number of after-school clubs that included aspects related to engineering. He went on to become president of his school’s student body and followed in his brother’s footsteps when he graduated as valedictorian. Ending his schooling on a high was an impressive achievement for James, especially after he took second place at the state swimming championship tournaments. 

Once again when he made the decision to carry on following in Conrad’s footsteps and he planned to join Starfleet Academy, James’ parents were not happy. Further tension among his parents took place and James would eventually leave home never reconciling with them for many years.

Starfleet Career

Starfleet Academy

Entering Starfleet Academy was a dream come true for James. The constant academic challenges piqued his interest and his time among so many individuals built further confidence in him. At the Academy, James developed a curiosity in systems engineering, cybernetics and holography. His instructors encouraged him to pursue other areas of interest, one particular was his history and archaeology professor; Rio Canção. The El-Aurian teacher took a shine to James and would encourage him to pursue this field of study as an alternative to the engineering areas he wanted to specialise in. She felt he had the potential to go far and even nominated him to go forward to attend command courses.

During his sophomore year, he entered the annual Academy Marathon and finish in first place. Sports were something he was still keen on and a year later he would become the captain of the Academy’s soccer team. 

James graduated from the Academy as valedictorian of his class. He majored in systems engineering and minored in combined holography and cybernetics. His first posting was on board the Intrepid-class vessel USS Audacious (NCC-74709). This was down to the intervention of Professor Canção who was an old friend of the Audacious’ skipper.

USS Audacious (NCC-74709)

Serving on the Audacious as its chief operations officer as an ensign, gave James the grounding he needed to develop as an officer.  He would subsequently rise through the ranks due to his excellent dedication to service. Impressing his commanding officer, Captain Brooke Fontana-Adelaide, he made his stamp on the brand-new ship in his first year.

The Audacious would go on to serve heavily during the Dominion War. Before the outbreak of war, James had learnt of the fact that his brother, Horatio, had gone AWOL shortly after his graduation from Starfleet and had joined the Maquis. The crushing news of his brother’s betrayal to the Federation upset James a lot. His parents blamed Starfleet for filling their youngest son’s head with so much. For some time, this caused further friction between James and his parents. The flip side to the news was that James became a lot closer to Conrad over their heartbreak of Horatio abandoning something they all wanted to do.

It wasn’t until a few months later when the Audacious had been sent to investigate a hidden Maquis base in the Bajoran Badlands that they came across the cell that Horatio had been a member of. It was James who found his younger brother and even stunned him to prevent him from escaping. James had the regrettable duty of informing the rest of his family about the fate of Horatio. The Audacious took the Maquis to prison on Betazed where James said a final goodbye to his brother after feeling humiliated and betrayed for his committing an act of treason. Seeing the hurt and embarrassment of the young officer, Captain Adelaide took James under her wing in an almost motherly fashion. 

As the Audacious joined many fleet engagements, the ship endured many losses, including several in the senior staff. With the shortage of experienced officers, Captain Adelaide made the decision to use the crew she had and handed out a number of battlefield promotions to fill empty spots to ensure the ship ran efficiently as she deemed fit. Even through their losses, the Audacious crew remained strong in its convictions and by the end of the war were all commended for their valiant service to the Federation. Noted for his continuous professionalism and impressive service to his fellow crewmates, Adelaide went on to make James a full lieutenant at the end of the war and her second officer.

It was during the war that James Preston began a romantic relationship with the ship’s stellar cartographer, Ensign Harriet Riley. The two became close and eventually moved in with each other after Riley’s quarters were damaged. However, when the Audacious served as part of the large allied fleet that invaded Cardassia in 2375, Stellar Cartography was hit badly by enemy fire. As such an EPS conduit exploded killing Harriet. After hearing the news of her death, James withdrew into himself for a little while until a pep talk from Captain Adelaide made him come out of himself again to live his life as much as Harriet would want him to.

It was ironic that even though the Audacious endured heavily during the war her demise would occur during a mission to help with post-war relief efforts while in orbit of Betazed. The Audacious’ antimatter containment pods had become unstable due to a computer malfunction. James Preston along with the Audacious chief engineer, Lieutenant Lyndsy Dawson, attempted to save the ship however a number of safety protocols were non-responsive and as such Captain Adelaide had to order her crew to abandon the ship. In the same escape pod with his captain and its chief engineer, the three officers watched sadly as the Audacious exploded and went on to burn up in the atmosphere of Betazed.

Soon after a general enquiry found that none of the crew was to blame for the loss of the Audacious and her loss was blamed on a computer glitch based on a number of bio-neural gel packs becoming infected. After the destruction of the ship, James took four months of leave and spent it on Risa. He ignored every message from his parents, asking him to come home to visit them. 

USS Portsmouth (NCC-63749)

Captain Adelaide was adamant she wanted to keep her crew together when Starfleet offered her command of a new ship at the end of 2376. She was handed over command of the Akira-class starship, USS Portsmouth (NCC- 63749). Adelaide had James assigned to the Portsmouth when Starfleet granted her wish to have everyone return to her command. 

Ultimately, the Portsmouth was allocated to peacekeeper duties within the Federation and to carry on with post-war relief efforts. By 2379 the Portsmouth was assigned to the Beta Quadrant to bolster defence along the border with the Romulan Star Empire, this was shortly after the Shinzon coup d’etat. 

During a stop-off at Starbase 611, a station that was on the far edges of Federation territory, the Portsmouth had to help defend the station against an attack by a rogue alien group. As the Portsmouth was one of only two Starfleet heavy cruisers docked, the aliens constantly hounded them causing severe damage to the ship. James devised a tactic that would reduce the number of enemy ships left to deal with. He was able to get enough power to the ship’s tractors to tow the last two warships out of the system. As the crew abandoned the ship via the escape pods, Captain Adelaide, McCallister and a couple of others remained on board to implement his plan. The plan was effective and the Portsmouth ended up taking the two enemy ships with it as the auto-destruct system detonated. Once again Captain Adelaide had to watch with McCallister the loss of another ship from the confines of an escape pod. For his ingenious idea of saving his crew, the station and the lives of other Federation citizens, he was awarded by Starfleet with the Medal of Commendation. 

USS Trinity (NCC-80421)

During the middle of 2381 and after another well-deserved leave of absence (this time on Kovar Prime), James was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander and given the assignment of being the chief operations officer on board the newly built Obena-class USS Trinity (NCC-80421). Once again, he went on to serve under Captain Adelaide as the second officer. 

James had developed an extremely close relationship with his captain who he looked to as a close mentor and a role model for himself in developing as an officer and a leader. After the launch of the Trinity at the Proxima Maintenance Yards, the ship was assigned to exploration duties within the Beta Quadrant. The ship was assigned to a two-year deep space exploration mission. On this assignment, James developed more than he had previously done due to the fact he was doing what he joined up to do: explore the stars and live the adventure in the truly unknown. As part of the Trinity’s crew, he met a number of new species and explored a number of new systems. James also became close to the ship’s chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Lyndsy Dawson. This eventually led to them beginning a romantic relationship. In 2384 the Trinity docked at Deep Space 19 to receive general repairs and refits after its two-year-long exploration mission. While the ship was docked James asked Lyndsy to marry him, however, she said no and turned him down. A month later the two broke off their relationship and remained friends.

The ship was ordered to help in the eradication of the Beta Cartel, a criminal organisation, who were bent on causing problems for the Federation with its allies in the Klingon Empire. During an engagement against three of Beta Cartel ships, the Trinity was hit hard and several systems exploded on the bridge. One of them killed the first officer and injured Captain Adelaide. In an attempt to save his captain, James applied the limited first aid knowledge he knew while medical teams were called for. Adelaide knew she wouldn’t survive the trip to sickbay and after hearing her first officer had died, she transferred the command codes to James and gave him command of the Trinity. Dying in James’s arms, she told him to save the ship whatever the cost. He went on to lead the ship in destroying two of the enemy ships and capturing the third. For his valiant actions, Fleet Admiral Luke Duncan decided that the young commander had earned a field promotion to the rank of captain and gave him full command of the Trinity. The Trinity went on to help finish off what elements remained of the Beta Cartel by the end of the year. Once the mission had ended, McCallister had to lead his crew in the funerals of Captain Adelaide and Commander Morgan Cole (the Trinity’s former executive officer). It was a tough time for the crew to adjust to the changes in the command structure. Deciding to follow what he had learnt from Adelaide, McCallister chose within the ship’s senior staff who would be his first officer. Eventually, he picked on the ship’s Betazoid counsellor and diplomatic officer, Romen Corbin. It took them, along with the rest of the senior staff, some time to help the crew adapt to the new changes but eventually morale returned to the way Captain Adelaide and Commander Cole would have wanted.

At the start of the new year, James, along with the rest of the Trinity’s crew, was stuck in the Abyss with DS-19, the Kovar system and a number of other Starfleet ships and stations. The Trinity was one of the few ships that were able to restore power after they were transported to the enclosed subspace region. Captain McCallister was able to coordinate with Fleet Admiral Duncan’s relief efforts to help the rest of the Starfleet crews in repairing their ships and preparing for what lay ahead of them. McCallister would go on to help the admiral’s agenda in forming a strong coalition between a number of alien ships in the Abyss to find a way out. Finally, they did escape and were returned to their original places before their displacement.

Eager to return to their explorative legs, McCallister petitioned Fleet Admiral Duncan to let the Trinity explore the Hellian Expanse. After persuading the admiral for only a few minutes, McCallister prepared his crew for their new two-year joint mission with the USS Iliad (NCC-74658) to explore the Expanse.

When the Trinity and the Iliad were coming to the end of their mission, they came across high concentrations of neutrinos and gravimetric readings within a class nine nebula in the last uncharted region of the Hellian Expanse. Even though long-range scans had indicated that the region was only filled with gaseous formations, Captain McCallister felt the unusual readings deserved to be investigated in case there was a wormhole present, especially as all the clues pointed to the possibility. It was agreed between McCallister and Captain Jurot (of the Iliad) that the Trinity would go in first to investigate in case there were any risks they were unsure of. The Trinity flew in and shortly after dropping to impulse was sucked into a subspace corridor. As the crew quickly worked to find out where they were, they passed through a circular metallic structure. Straight away the crew realised where they were as the sensors registered the structure as Borg in origin. It was a Borg transwarp conduit manifold that was heavily damaged. Not willing to take any chances Captain McCallister armed the Trinity’s torpedoes and destroyed the manifold. Eventually, the transwarp conduit began to collapse around them and the Trinity was shoved back out into normal space. The ship’s re-entry caused heavy damage ship-wide to the point the ship’s structural integrity field was collapsing from all the stress. After a few minutes of trying to save the ship at all costs McCallister knew there wasn’t much else they could do until they landed the ship, he ordered for the warp core to be dumped and once a planet was found the ship changed course to land. The planet was an icy Class L. The Trinity’s hull began to buckle and without having the time to launch any escape pods, the ship crash-landed on the ice planet. Once the ship was down the crew attempted to repair what systems they could to keep them alive while they awaited rescue. It took two weeks for Starfleet to find them. After the entire crew were safely on the rescue ships, they began to salvage what was left of the Trinity. The entire clean-up operation took another three weeks. Yet, all that was left on the Trinity were the damaged systems that weren’t salvageable. On orders from Starfleet Command, Captain McCallister activated the ship’s auto-destruct sequence and watched from orbit as his ship destroyed herself to prevent others from attempting to take what was left of her. The destruction caused the remaining parts to break under the glacier the ship had landed on. In the end what was left sunk to the bottom of the planet’s deep cold ocean bed. 

Starfleet Academy

As soon as the inquest into the loss of the Trinity had been completed and no charges were made against the captain and his crew, McCallister was offered a position at Starfleet Academy. Approached by his former mentor, Professor Rio Canção, who was eager to have him as a member of her faculty. Convincing the Academy Commandant that he would be an asset, he was given a special guest lecturer status on a temporary basis. James spent his time taking small classes in command, tactical, diplomacy and starship operations. Almost repeating what Canção did for him many years ago, he became a mentor to many cadets. He enjoyed tutoring so many and sharing his own experiences.

While at the Academy he went through final training to become a fully qualified First Contact specialist. This was an area he felt he needed to improve on. James also became close friends with fellow lecturer Karyn Reyas. The two eventually moved in together after dating for some time. Even though he joined his teaching job, Karyn convinced James he was better suited to be on the bridge of a starship instead of behind a lecturer’s podium or grading papers. When the spring semester came to an end, James requested to be put back on active starship duty. Even though it appeared he would need to wait for an opportunity, he continued to work hard at the academy. During the last part of the academic year, he developed a good working relationship with a fellow instructor, Cambil Bexa. The Bajoran woman was in a similar teaching position as he was, being a mentor to a small unit of cadets and leading them in a range of subjects. Karyn and James would often join Bexa and her husband Naprem for meals at their home in San Francisco.  

At the beginning of 2386, James was ordered to Starfleet Command Headquarters to receive his new orders. He would be given command of the Luna-class starship, USS Triton. Before his departure from the Academy though, Professor Canção gave him a verbal cold splash of water and told him to realise that life was more than just serving in Starfleet. Having a similar conversation with Bexa, James knew what he wanted to do next with his relationship with Karyn. On their four-month anniversary, he asked her to marry him. Saying yes to his proposal, the two got married in a quiet wedding on Earth before they left for the Triton.

USS Triton (NCC-80106)

James was given command of the Luna-class starship USS Triton. She had been sitting at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards for twelve months receiving a number of extensive upgrades in particular on her warp drive and computer core. Starfleet ordered him to oversee the last of the refits and select his new crew. The last of the updates would take up to two months, giving the new captain plenty of time to select his crew. Deciding he wanted a diverse crew, similar to the other Luna-class ships that were in service, James found himself handpicking everyone to serve on his ship. 

With only two weeks before its upgrades were complete, Triton was rushed out of drydock by Starfleet when McCallister was ordered to head up a relief force to Starbase 378 in the Alcor Sector in anticipation of the collapse of the Amorgia star. After arriving in the sector, the sun collapsed, and millions of Federation citizens were evacuated due to their planets being affected by the collapse of the star. James was given the task of dealing with a crisis with a nearby nation, the Hayde’nk Commonwealth, which was a Federation protectorate but who had taken hostile action against refugee ships and Starfleet forces too. The Federation Council wanted the threat to Federation interests to be removed at once and to know exactly what the Hayde’nk were playing at. While trying to get to know his new crew and ship, James had to help a deposed crown prince deal with possibly losing the rest of his family whilst attempting to open diplomatic channels with the new leaders. Eventually, James and the rest of the Triton discovered that a dissident movement had manipulated military and political leaders against each other. The captain also discovered that this rebel group was being supported by a Ferengi Daimon and his crew, who themselves were captured by their business partners and later killed. In an attempt to prevent an all-out war with the Ferengi Alliance and in hopes of restoring peace in the sector to help with the collapse of the Amorgia sun, James mediated a peace settlement between the Hayde’nk military leaders, its royal family and civilian elected officials. The talks themselves were interrupted by the dissident movement, where its leader decided to reveal himself however was killed by another dissident who was part of the military leadership. Ultimately, James was able to get all sides to reach a compromise and restore peace and order to the Hayde’nk Commonwealth. James went on to report to Ferengi representatives what had happened and how those Ferengi who had supported the rebels had been killed by their own business partners. No repercussions came from the Ferengi government over the situation and James, along with the rest of the Triton’s crew, was commended for their efforts and successes in finding a peaceful endgame to the crisis.  During everything though, James led the Triton and other Starfleet ships in engaging rebel ships when they attacked Federation ships. James was noted for his tactical thinking in preventing the loss of life on both sides in hopes of a peaceful resolution.

Throughout this first mission, James was dealing with getting to know his new crew which wasn’t easy as it should have been. Lieutenant Commander Lyndsy Dawson, the Triton’s new Chief Engineer had been James’ ex-girlfriend and they both had ended their relationship on a bad note. Both Lyndsy and James tried hard to put their past behind them to work together, especially to have Triton ready to be launched to help in the Alcor sector. During the mission, both appeared to be able to return to an amicable relationship, especially as Karyn was also on board and was made Triton’s third officer above Lyndsy. 

When the Bajoran colony on Olbari II was threatened by a massive snowstorm, McCallister volunteered for Triton to help with the colony’s evacuation. Once the ship arrived in the Olbari system it quickly responded to the emergency relief efforts that were underway. Captain McCallister led an away team to meet with the colony’s governor to discuss the evacuation procedure. Between McCallister’s crew and the colony’s government agencies, the civilians of Olbari II were slowly evacuated to temporary shelters on Olbari III. During the mission, James and Karyn took his yacht to visit scientists in the Arctic regions of Olbari II. They had been studying the rapid changes happening to the planet and when they explained there was nothing they could do to stop it the captain insisted on their evacuation from their research base. Even after receiving multiple protests from the lead scientist, James was successful in getting the team off Olbari II and in return for their cooperation he allowed them to monitor the climate changes from the Triton. 

During the mission, the ship was joined by other Starfleet ships to help speed up the evacuation process. James took command of the relief efforts however their hard work hit a brick wall when they discovered the colonists were becoming infected by a virus that had laid dormant in the deep arctic ice. With the climate changing, and many parts of the polar regions’ ice plates melting, the virus had entered the colony’s water systems and was now infecting those who drank it. James had the difficult choice to make of suspending the evacuation process and placing a quarantine around the planet. The relief effort became a blockade, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the planet while the medical personnel worked hard to find a cure. As time progressed and casualties began to pile up, James was confronted by a Bajoran Militia relief force that had been sent from Bajor to bring its citizens home. The Bajoran ships attempted to bypass the Starfleet blockade, believing McCallister wouldn’t give the order to fire. However, the Starfleet ships were ready based on a plan devised by Captain McCallister. They were able to set up a probe network that blocked all transporter signals around the planet. The Bajoran crafts would be unable to land either due to the extreme weather making it difficult to do so safely. The loss of lives on both sides was not acceptable. McCallister found an adversary in the Bajoran task group’s commanding officer; Colonel Lin Kelsi. Colonel Lin was bent on rescuing her people under the orders of Governor Marstar Petrisha. Luckily though a cure was found before any more conflict erupted between McCallister and Lin’s ships. Together they were able to work in evacuating and curing the last of the colonists.

Triton remained in the Olbari system and the Alcor sector for several more months. James led a number of missions within this time frame which ranged from simple search and rescue to dealing with political matters. James, along with the Triton was invited to return to the Hayde’nk homeworld to witness the marriage of Crown Prince Rehys to his new husband, while there James strengthened the Federation relationship with the Hayde’nk Commonwealth by setting up a permanent agreement where the Hayde’nk Royal High Guard were involved in joint missions with Starfleet in protecting and developing the worlds within the Alcor sector. His efforts were commended by Starfleet and the Federation Council, by making inroads to setting up talks in bringing the Hayde’nk into the Federation as full members. 

Eventually, Triton was ordered to Farpoint Station under the pretext of gaining its new mission orders to begin its deep space exploration mission of the Alpha Quadrant. James was informed that the ship’s mission would be a joint one with the USS Odyssey. Together the ships would investigate the possible and unexpected arrival of the Kovar system and Deep Space 19 along the Breen border. Kovar and DS-19 had been reported to have been destroyed by Iconian technology that had ripped a massive subspace shockwave in the Beta Quadrant earlier on in the year. The mission was led by Admiral Luke Duncan, the man responsible for making James a captain. While en route, James and Karyn were told the good news that Karyn was pregnant and was expecting triplets. Overjoyed with becoming a father, James and Karyn began to prepare themselves for parenthood. Finally, after almost two weeks of travelling the ships arrived at their destination to find the entire Kovar system along with Deep Space 19 present at the location they were believed to be at, however, they were not alone. Along with them was a group of sixteen Breen warships. Obviously, the Breen had detected the arrival of the new system and sent a group of ships to investigate its sudden appearance from nowhere. The Breen task force was able to damage the station and overwhelm the colony’s defence network, but at a cost. Triton detected a debris field that belonged to at least fifteen other Breen ships. The remaining Breen ships were unable to send in troops to occupy the colony or station as they would be outnumbered; instead, they planned to hold the system until help arrived from the Confederacy. McCallister with Admiral Duncan hatched a plan to send a small covert away team down to the colony in a bid to make contact with its militia and government in hopes to determine the situation and if they would be able to re-take back the system. Unfortunately, the runabout was detected by the Breen and within a matter of moments, James’ life was flipped upside down when Triton received heavy damage during the fight with the Breen to save the runabout. It resulted in the loss of several members of the crew and a number of them being injured. This included the death of his first officer and his security chief was placed into a coma to recover from a series of traumatic injuries. Not willing to lose to the Breen, James developed a plan to use the ship’s already damaged warp core in a manoeuvre to defend the ship. The core was ejected, and enough power was routed to fire a tricobalt device at the core. The shockwave from the breaching core caused significant damage to the Breen ships, including the destruction of several of them. Sadly though Triton was severely disabled, as such James ordered his crew to abandon ship and take refuge on Kovar. Eventually, a heavily damaged Odyssey, with the aid of three Klingon ships and a repaired nadion-pulse cannon on Kovar III, was able to drive the remaining Breen forces out of the systems and back to the Breen Confederacy. James was forced to deal with the loss of his first officer, chief engineer as well as several other crewmembers for the first time since taking command of Triton. This was a difficult point in his career as he had never lost so many individuals under his command, in particular those on his senior staff. James had decided to promote a number of his crew into those roles that needed to be filled, with support from Admiral Duncan. Meanwhile, Triton docked at Deep Space 19 and received repairs while the crew helped with relief efforts on the colony.

Once Triton was fully repaired the ship began its exploratory mission. In three months, James led the ship in making first contact with four new warp-capable species. On all occasions, they left these races in the hopes of developing relations further with them. James enjoyed Triton’s opportunity in exploring unknown spaces and the ship had mapped eleven systems by the time they returned to port. During their return home, James was able to avert a disaster with the Breen involving a pre-warp society. Together with a good friend of his, Captain Rio Canção, James was able to stop the Breen from gaining their hands on a Borg transwarp coil. This mission itself was classified however it did cause some tension between James and the rest of his senior staff as he was unable to share with them the information about the coil and why Triton was involved in such a highly secretive mission.

By the end of the year, the crew of the Triton discovered how the Iconian technology that had moved DS-19 and Kovar from the Beta Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant. Working with their colleagues on DS-19 they were able to return the space station and colony back to their original position in the Beta Quadrant. Sadly though, during the process, the Triton was heavily damaged and the Odyssey was destroyed.

USS Odyssey (NX-80000)

While the Triton was taken to the Beta Antares Shipyards for major repairs, the entire crew were re-assigned elsewhere. McCallister, on his return to Earth, was informed that he would be given command of a brand-new ship. The prototype USS Odyssey (NX-80000), Odyssey­-class. This experimental type of ship was one of the biggest explorers that Starfleet had built. Starfleet Command gave him full authority to crew the ship with whoever he wanted. Pulling in a number of favours, he recalled the entire former crew of the Triton and those who had survived the destruction of the previous Odyssey.

At the start of 2387, the ship was launched from the San Francisco Shipyards from Earth orbit. The crew were fortunate enough to have on board retired Fleet Admiral Duncan and Captain McCragg (who had recently retired too). Both men had commanded the two previous ships named Odyssey and were special guests during the launch ceremony. McCallister’s first mission was to test his new ship and take the retired admiral home to Kovar. Joining McCallister’s crew would be Admiral Duncan’s son, Max, who would be one of the ship’s counsellors.

Several months later James became a father to three healthy boys. Karyn and he named them Theodore, Alfie and Henri. Raising a young family on a ship that allowed for civilians was a bonus and he soon found fatherhood to be more of a challenge than being a Starfleet captain.

After a successful shakedown cruise, the Odyssey was kept within the confines of Federation space. This was partially due to the destruction of Romulus as well as Starfleet still recovering from the synth attack on Mars. Becoming restless at the work Starfleet gave the Odyssey, James started to become quite disheartened for a while. On a few occasions, he would challenge some of the admirals back on Earth for their approaches to keeping so many ships within the confines of Federation territory.

In 2388, Starfleet had decided to reassign James, temporarily. He left the Odyssey in the capable hands of his first officer until he returned.

USS Avenger (NCC-74206)

Starfleet wanted him to work closely with Starfleet Intelligence in observing and monitoring the Cardassians, however, he could not do it from the bridge of the Odyssey and its smaller support craft, the Aquarius had recently crash-landed on a moon during an away mission. Instead, they gave him command of the USS Avenger (NCC-74206), a Defiant-class ship. A smaller, stealthier ship was needed for this mission and one that could throw a punch if required. On loan from the Klingon Empire was a cloak too, in return Starfleet Intelligence would share James’ work with them on the status of the Union. James was able to select his entire crew, but Starfleet would not let him take his wife with him, fearing it would cloud his judgement (even though there was no evidence this had happened on the Triton or Odyssey).

Leading a mixed team of officers from the Odyssey, James started a year-long patrol near to the border. Even though his mission took him away from his family, he was certain to prove to Starfleet that this reassignment was not going to change his opinion on matters. James knew that this move was a way of keeping him quiet, he wasn’t the only captain in the fleet who was not happy with how things were going on.

By the end of 2389, his mission came to an end and the entire Avenger crew returned to the Odyssey, while the Avenger herself was sent off to Devron Fleet Yards for a major overhaul and refit.

USS Odyssey (NCC-80000)

For the next decade, James remained in command of the Odyssey. Starfleet eventually gave him a number of exploration assignments within Federation territory in the Beta Quadrant. In 2395, after years of social, economic and political decline within the Romulan factions, Starfleet decided to assign the Odyssey to the former site of the Neutral Zone. Their mission was simple: support Federation interests along the border and fly the flag for Starfleet. The mission remit was pretty sparse and broad, so McCallister decided to base Odyssey out of Deep Space 19. With help from the station, they assisted those worlds that had not succumbed to civil unrest and aided those who became refugees.

Before the end of the century, James had not only become a well-decorated and awarded Starfleet captain but a well-grounded family man too. Also, he was fortunate that only a few of his crew left him for new assignments and while many others were keen to join the reputable ship. 

In 2399, he had become known for his direct dealings with the Fenris Rangers. Many in the organisation felt that McCallister was Starfleet’s poster boy for their lack of involvement in supporting what was happening in the neutral zone. As such in 2399, he made the bold move to rescue two Fenris Ranger ships from being attacked by rogue Romulan vessels. He had hoped that this action would change some views, but it appeared his efforts were futile. 

Shortly after this, James Preston received news from Deep Space 19 that Fleet Admiral Duncan had passed away in his sleep. At the time, the Odyssey had been on patrol. He ordered the ship to turn around and to return home at once. One week later, a memorial ceremony was held on board DS-19 for the former flag officer and his body was laid to rest on Kovar Prime. McCallister was asked to make remarks on the man that had originally put him in the centre chair and whom he had succeeded in carrying on the legacy of the Odyssey.

After the funeral, McCallister would lead his ship in undertaking its first exploration mission in almost eight years. He was ordered to take the ship back to the Hellian Expanse, an area he had once taken his first command through. Starfleet ordered the Odyssey to update its records by remapping the area. The mission was a success, thanks to the ship’s impressive science and exploration capabilities at the end of it they detected a distress call from the USS Holt. The Holt was James’ former first officer’s ship and soon they discovered what remained of the Elysion-class ship. After investigating the events that had led to the destruction of the ship, the crew discovered that a natural soliton wave had pushed the Holt across the quadrant at excessive speeds that it could not survive in. The elements of the Hellian Expanse were able to stop the soliton wave in its path, depositing what was left of the Holt into normal space. Sadly none of the crew survived and McCallister led his crew in a memorial for their former first officer and their fallen comrades.

Later on in the year, the ship was ordered to head to Guardian Station (Starbase 90) so it would use the Barzan Wormhole to enter the Delta Quadrant. Starfleet had decided to send the Odyssey to the Delta Quadrant to begin a deep space exploration mission. Excited at undertaking such a mission, James was eager to begin this mission. However, he and Karyn did consider if they wanted to take their sons to the Delta Quadrant. After discussing it they agreed they felt it was the right thing to do. 

En route though the ship’s mission was postponed as the ship was reassigned to the Archanis sector. Starfleet Command had decided to assign elements of the fourth fleet to the Federation-Klingon border after the House of D’Ghor, a rogue element from the Empire, was attacking Federation assets. Known as the Hunters of D’Ghor, these Klingons did not follow normal Klingon honour or customs, as such their raids were ruthless and barbaric (even for Klingons). Sent to assist the Andorian colony on Haydorian, the Odyssey was sent to begin operations in assembling the Archanis Array, a large sensor array that would assist in detecting ships along the border. After entering the Haydorian system the ship was attacked and James was seriously injured. The Hunters of D’Ghor refused to surrender and rammed their final ship into the Odyssey. James was not the only one injured, Karyn was along with a number of others. Spending several days recovering meant that James and Karyn’s sons were looked after by their godfather (James’ yeoman and chief of the boat) along with other members of the crew. When he was fit to return to limited duty, James resumed command of the ship with the aid of his third officer, Commander Max Duncan. With Max’s help, they assisted the fourth fleet’s efforts in removing the D’Ghor threat from the area and secured the Haydorian system. The array was successfully assembled and used. 

Eventually, Odyssey resumed its course to the Barzan wormhole to begin its mission in the Delta Quadrant.  

In the Delta Quadrant, McCallister was responsible for restoring better relations with the Uxali, the race that had been contaminated by antimatter radiation after Friendship One (from Earth) had crashed and landed on their planet. He was able to convince their leadership in relocating to a safer world to let their race prosper.

Shortly after their first mission, which had lasted over a month, McCallister had to deal with the Omega Directive. Taking on a solo mission, McCallister ended up having to destroy a high number of omega molecules which the Kraylor had wanted to use as a source of energy for their weapons. With indirect help from his crew, who did not know a thing about the directive, he was able to remove the threat, the Kraylor’s research and convince them that the ship had nothing to do with what happened in omega’s destruction. However his duplicity and actions did not go down well with his first officer and for the first time in over a decade, the two argued significantly. Once the mission was classed a success, Cambil resigned from Starfleet. The loss of Bexa as his right-hand woman created a big void for him to fill. Knowing that Starfleet would never agree to him making his wife, Karyn, his first officer, McCallister picked his third officer instead: Commander Max Duncan.

Odyssey began exploring the Delta Hedalos Sector, a region of space in the Gradin Belt that had not been mapped before by Starfleet. While exploring an area called the Burbridge Cluster, the ship found an almost perfect M-class world they named Outrè. While survey teams examined the planet, members of the crew were allowed to visit the planet for recreation and shore-leave purposes. McCallister took his sons, along with Duncan and Court,  to camp on one of the beaches of the tropical islands they had surveyed. When artefacts of a buried civilisation were found on the shore, they took his yacht deep underwater. While underwater, they uncovered a gold obelisk with the T’Kon Empire cress on it. This discovery began a new mission for the ship as it joined with every other ship in Starfleet to deal with the T’Kon crisis that was taking place on a galactic level. Though the mission lasted some time, the crew would transverse through a region of space filled with anomalies designed to slow them down. On the edge of this region, they rescued Professor Shu’varn, a Pendari scientist who had been researching the area and the Tkon for over eight years. Several days into the region they finally reached the centre to find a Tkon outpost being guarded by a Tkon sentry, known as Portal 117. Portal 117 was dying and was hoping the Federation ship could help it. Unable to restore its systems in time, the away team that McCallister had sent witnessed Portal 117’s death and the outpost’s systems start to fail further. In a bold attempt, Shu’varn volunteered to take over the guardianship of the outpost. Though the away team was injured when he did this, his actions and self-sacrifice ensured the outpost remained a secret to the rest of the galaxy and he was able to use the outpost’s powers to return the Odyssey to normal space.

Almost a month later and the ship had resumed its exploration of the far edges of the Gradin Belt. McCallister took on a survey mission with his son, Alfie, in a shuttle. During their study of a large cluster of sirillium gas pockets in a nearby class seventeen nebula, they detected a huge alien ark vessel. After calling in help from the Odyssey, the crew began to analyse and explore the ark, which they originally believed to be abandoned. During this mission, McCallister made Alfie an acting ensign to determine whether or not he truly wanted to join Starfleet (something he had shared with his father privately during their time on the shuttle). When the crew soon found that the ark was not empty but instead filled with stasis chambers crammed with children, McCallister began to open a dialogue with the ship’s sophisticated AI system. The AI system used the brainwaves of its former captain and created an isomorphic projection of her. Sharing that the ship was named Quirennal and she was Captain Jyster, the AI system requested that McCallister and the rest of the adult population of the Odyssey save the children and become their carers. McCallister was prepared to negotiate to help the young people trapped in their stasis chambers, but Jyster felt forced to take drastic action. Using advanced translocator technology, Jyster beamed almost every adult off from the Odyssey and ordered McCallister to accept her conditions. He was able to negotiate with the Jyster isomorph to return some of the adults, those with younger children, to the Odyssey while he agreed for the rest to remain on the Quirennal. Fearing that Jyster had advanced weapons that could destroy the Odyssey, McCallister was not prepared to find out what capabilities the ark had. His decision was not a popular one among his crew, especially with his wife. For the next two months, those trapped on the Quirennal were forced to care for the young people. Using sophisticated forms of particle synthesizers,  Jyster was able to create an environment which could house the Odyssey‘s adult population and her youngsters. McCallister was given the role of ‘principal’ of the school that was created, he would use his time to teach the teenagers. Others in his crew were made parents overnight, depending on what Jyster had determined about their abilities to parent. While trapped on the Quirennal, McCallister had his first massive argument with his wife. Karyn had felt he had purposefully abandoned their three sons and the Odyssey, placing them in danger. She found it hard to speak to him, however during the two months they were trapped, they worked with the crew to form a secret plan to escape from the ship. Their last day on the ark was eventful when the Odyssey arrived with the help of his younger brother’s (Horatio) ship, the League. When attempting to flee, McCallister’s crew had taken control of the translocator device and attempted to beam off the children they had been caring for. When it was discovered that there were only two life signs, further light was revealed on their situation. Discovering that the AI isomorph of Captain Jyster had killed everyone else on the ship to save the sons of the original Jyster while they were in stasis. Using other isomorphs, Jyster had wanted the sons of her real counterpart, to grow up on the ship with others who would care for them and ensure their identity remained. Her sons had grown to despise the AI and were keen to help the Odyssey escape. Fleeing from the ark, the Odyssey and League used underspace corridors to get away but in a last bold attempt, Jyster attempted to take back the Odyssey before the ark exploded. The resulting shockwave somehow caused the underspace corridor to throw the ship thousands of light years into the Beta Quadrant near Romulan territory. With everyone safely back on board, the ship was rescued and towed back to Starbase Bravo for repairs. Starfleet had many questions for McCallister and its crew about what had happened while in the Delta Quadrant. They relieved everyone and ordered the crew to take some needed R&R. McCallister, just like everyone else, was sent for counselling and debriefing.

While at the Mellstoxx system, a massive ion storm hit the nearby Paulson Nebula. Every ship was called upon to assist with evacuation and render help to those who were in danger. Ordered back to the ship, the crew headed into the nebula to assist. Helping a number of convoys while also repairing subspace rifts, the Odyssey was heading out to assist Commander Reyas. After having an argument with her husband, Reyas had taken a small crew on board the Telemachus, the ship’s Aquarius-class escort, to save a group of scientists in underground caves (one of them was her mother). However, the Odyssey was hit by a chronokinetic surge by a subspace rift and the entire ship was shattered into hundreds of different timeframes. McCallister, along with Lieutenant Commander Jen, were somehow pulled into one timeframe in the future. There they met Vice Admiral Max Duncan, Captain Tomaz and Commander Alfie McCallister-Reyas and Commander Jorgeh. Though they were breaking the temporal prime directive in being in the future timeline, the two officers soon discovered they had to assist the future counterparts in restoring the ship back to their timeframe. By doing this, they would be saving the ship and avoiding so many deaths. Though successful in restoring the ship, McCallister saw a glimpse into the lives of his crew, especially Alfie. He wasn’t too happy with what he saw, but on the other hand, realised he couldn’t go change the future too much. After the ship returned to the proper timeline, a moment before it was hit by the surge, McCallister found out that his wife had sacrificed herself in helping to restore the ship by collapsing the surge from within the rift that created it. Karyn was listed as missing in action, as after a thorough investigation the possibility of her entering an alternate future timeline was possible due to the large amounts of tachyons and chronitons that were consistent with a temporal vortex. There was some hope she survived, somewhere or some time.

It wasn’t how McCallister envisioned him and his family starting the 25th century, but with help from his close friends and colleagues, he was able to adjust to his new life as a Starfleet widow and a single father to three very distraught teenagers. Along with every other member of the crew that was involved in the various time travelling incidents to restore the ship, McCallister was debriefed by the Department of Temporal Investigations. Furthermore, they were required by the Temporal Prime Directive to keep what happened to them a secret to avoid any further temporal paradoxes from occurring. but McCallister was part of the planning that would prepare those who would need to know about what may happen in the future to ensure that the paradox of the ship was restored from the surge.

Once again the Odyssey was repaired at Starbase Bravo. Before long the ship was sent into the Velorum Sector to deal with another crisis. After the collapse of the remains of the Romulan Star Empire, the Federation was requested by the provisional government to aid in rebuilding efforts. Sent to help the Romulan colony of Vorash, McCallister and his crew were able to uncover a Tal Shiar plot to destroy the colony. Thankfully, McCallister and the ship had helped establish the colony over a decade ago so they had a somewhat familiar knowledge of its inhabitants. McCallister was successful in restoring control to the colony and removing the Tal Shiar threat from it, while at the same time opening a dialogue between its leaders with the Romulan Republic. For his efforts in preventing the colony’s destruction, he was thanked by its colonists.

The Odyssey thereafter returned to the Delta Quadrant to resume its mission of exploration in the Gradin Belt. Odyssey returned and James was ordered to begin a goodwill tour of the area, developing better relationships with the local powers in the area. Starfleet was keen to establish strong ties with many races to ensure that when further exploration missions of the area took place, Starfleet was in a strong position. James opened up trade talks with the government on Quarra, resolved a dispute with the Lokirrim (after a slight altercation), assisted the Qomar Planetary Alliance in developing their cultural habits with music, met with representatives from the Benkaran and Nygean species and found a way to prevent a religious war from breaking out among the Pendarians. The latter was averted after the ship rescued its diplomatic officer from being used as the new Pendarian messiah. Furthermore, the ship hosted a state dinner for the Kadi Supreme Abbott. Eventually, the crew would rescue Brenari refugees and discover a hidden world where the Brenari are hiding far from the Devore. While in orbit and providing aid, James opens diplomatic talks and eventually develops a strong relationship with its leader, Chief Mayor Adale. During this mission, the ship was pulled into the crisis that hit the Gradin Belt in late 2400, the sudden arrival of Blood Dilithium. This version of the crimson fragments caused havoc among the crew and this was further hampered by the arrival of a Devore squadron of warships and a baby telepathic pitcher plant. Those telepathic on the crew rose up against McCallister in a mutiny influenced by both the dilithium crystals and the infant space-dwelling bioplasmic organism. McCallister locked heads with his chief engineer, who had taken Henri and Theo hostage, however with help from the rest of his crew they were able to resolve the situation and take back control of the ship. In addition, they were able to save over forty-seven thousand Brenari from being taken to Devore detention camps. After returning to the Brenari refugee colony, James took his relationship with Adale to the next level while the ship remained in orbit providing aid in building further shelters and structures with the Brenari.

At the end of 2400, Vice Admiral Zack Marshall-Bennet, Director of Fourth Fleet Operations, promoted James to the rank of fleet captain and ordered him to take command of a new expeditionary squadron. They were to go further into the Delta Quadrant and explore more of what Voyager had left behind over twenty-five years ago.