Dante

Early Life & Family
Dante Tarek was born on Mars, at the orbiting Utopia Planitia shipyards. His delivery room surrounded by the constant hum of nearby construction. His parents Anton and Liora Tarek were expert Engineers in the field of Warp Propulsion. While they loved their children, their passion for their work far exceeded any of that for Dante or his older sister, Ren. And they both found more comfort in each others company more so than in their parents.

Ren wanted to join Starfleet ever since she was a little girl, dreaming of becoming the pilot of a large starship. Her enthusiasm for her future was infectious and Dante found himself wanting to enter Starfleet too. If not just to be by his sister’s side. Ren always mothered Dante and would often challenge him to physical activities like zero-G sports and games of strategy. This fostered Dante’s prowess for Tactical Thinking which was recognised in school and eventually lead to him going to a specialist college on Mars called the Mars Tactical Academy to which he enrolled at the age of Sixteen.

Dante excelled at the Academy in most regards but his teachers felt he was too reliant on data before acting, almost to a fault. This showed he didn’t have a good grasp on intuition or instinct. While this wasn’t exactly a requirement for the MTA curriculum, his professors noted in his file that he would need to embrace personal input as well as external output to excel further in his Academic career. But for MTA, he had met the criteria and was soon on his way to Starfleet Academy, thanks largely to the body of work he produced while at MTA and to the recommendation he received from the Tactical Academy.

2381-2392 Starfleet Academy
When Dante arrived at Starfleet Academy, he was Eighteen years old and walked the halls with a calculated confidence. His goal to become an Officer took precedence over any social interactions outside of those that were mandatory. His lecturers found his abilities in the Tactical/Security were quite impressive but they too had concerns that echoed the ones his instructors at the MAT had already noted themselves. He was too reliant on the data, he would be too focused on not the best outcome available, but the best possible outcome as if everything in life had a right answer just waiting to be found.

After passing through first and second year with good grades they would challenge him with a personalised test in which they simulated an emergency response drill where he would need to evacuate civilians a midst an escalating crisis. His methodical approach, meticulously calculating rescue routes to save everyone, channeling his efforts to leave no one behind, led to delays finally resulting in simulated casualties.

This failure really affected Dante and would reverberate well into his third year where he would constantly second guess himself and leave him on the verge of withdrawing as he begin to fall behind on several classes. Furthermore it would be the year he lost the closest person to him.

On stardate 2384.11 his sister Ren Tarek was Killed in Action aboard the USS Sovereign during the Living Construct incident. The event saw a weaponised Artificial Intelligence take control of the automated systems aboard Starfleet’s ships and force them to fire upon one another. Worse yet, it had each of them call out in distress on Federation frequencies so that other starships would respond but as soon as communications were opened it would pass on the infection to that ship and so on. Ren had made it to Ensign aboard the Soveign just a month before and was the Helmsman of the big Sovereign class behemoth but the ship’s size and defense capability mattered little as there was no defenses at the time against the construct and its method of attacking.

Ren’s loss shattered Dante but soon after lead him back into pursuing his goal of becoming an Officer with renewed vision, he’d no longer do it just to catch up with Ren but to find a way to ensure that something like Living Construct’s attack never happens again. He approached the Academy with more passion than ever and would begin engaging openly with his lecturers about his idea in developing methods to combat rogue Artificial Intelligence or design Fail-safes so other autonomous systems could not be compromised.

He would retake the failed colony evacuation test and pass, this time accepting some losses to save the majority of lives as best he could. Meeting his lecturer’s goals. Throughout the year his ideas about AI and how to counter it would see that his professors would recommend he remain at the Academy well beyond the general Bridge Officer courses and pursue a higher level degree, one with which he could engage with even more Academics out in the field, get his ideas published and with better accreditation. But Dante wanted to be out there though, he wanted to start implementing his ideas not just talk about them.

But yet again he’s suffer a loss and his mind would be changed in his fourth year. On that day it is broadcasted live all over Earth, the destruction of the Martian Surface and Utopia Planitia yards. Mars is rendered uninhabitable by a reported “Malfunction” of the Artificial Personnel there known as Synths. Dante struggled with this news, he’d failed in a way. He knew those Synths, grew up around the A500s, some he actually considered friends, despite their limited social abilities. The loss of Dante’s family, friends and his old mentors at MTA was deeply felt and his confusion grew into anger now at nearly all types Artificial Beings. So he reconsidered his lecturers’ advice and pursued higher academia.

While in his Masters course he writes various papers and proposed procedures to Starfleet on anti-AI warfare, upon the ban on AI. A decision he likes to think that his submissions had a hand in. He returns to pursuing the career of a Bridge officer. Thanks to his extra time at the Academy, and his contributions to Federation Security he was allowed to graduate with a commission of Lieutenant Junior Grade to help prevent him from falling behind the current ranks of his graduation class.

Early Starfleet Career

2392-2395 USS Aldrin
Dante was assigned as a Security Officer aboard the USS Aldrin, a New Orleans Class assigned to Core World Patrol duties. There the Chief Tactical Officer and Captain would approve of his skills at management and place him as Chief Armoury Officer during his first year. Upon his third year aboard, Impressed by his innovative management of the armoury and its equipment they would promote him to Lieutenant and into the position of Deputy Chief Tactical officer with which he would lead the Night Shift.

During a deceitfully average Tuesday Dante would be among an away-team doing a routine inspection of Starbase 112 he noticed inconsistencies within the base’s medical logs. Prompting an investigation into the base’s Operations department where it was found unscheduled medical supplies had somehow found their way aboard. To make matters worse, the vessels the supplies were registered could not be found and failed to arrive at their planned destinations.

The investigation was handed over to another starship by Starfleet Command for reasons unknown to him at the time. Dante wasn’t happy about it but he was more of a never look back kind of guy and just hoped that the next crew would be thurough and fruitful in their investigations. Little did he know he would be able to see for himself how they faired. Following this discovery he would again be considered for promotion however the Aldrin had enough Junior Commanders on staff and a Chief Tactical Officer to boot. Recognising this the CO felt it unfair to keep Dante while they knew a position aboard the USS Vigilante was open. Both CO’s being old colleagues arranged the transfer.

2395-2397 USS Vigilant
Lieutenant Commander Dante found The USS Vigilant was a much newer Manticore Class starship and admittedly much more impressive than the old New Orleans, though she still had her charms. The Manticore was way more advanced and he found himself in awe by the chance to serve aboard her even more so as her Tactical/Security Officer. The Vigilant was like the Aldrin, a patrol vessel however she was assigned to the border worlds and had a mandate to stop criminal activities relating to the Orion Syndicate and the Piracy. In various engagements with the Syndicate he would gain valuable experience and make connections with people across many worlds during his investigations enough to build a criminal informant network to help further investigations.

One day he would yet again be faced with the events aboard Starbase 112, Command had given the investigation into the missing supply ships to the Vigilant at the request of her Executive Officer Commander Holdman. The details of why were not known to Dante however he relished the chance to progress into the investigation again seeing it. as it was before him and not behind him now.

During a raid on a small Syndicate outpost related to the missing ships they came across, Dante uncovered an elaborate Orion Syndicate scheme involving Starfleet supply routes near the border of the Nyx Expanse, a lawless sector. Their investigation suggested the Syndicate was leveraging stolen Federation prefix codes to intercept medical and technological resources intended for Federation colonies, the Syndicate raids also appeared to be targeting humanoids for capture, however the evidence was circumstantial at best and he could not convince his superiors to allow him to investigate further.

Determined to expose the conspiracy, Dante proposed a sting operation to Starfleet Intelligence, a calculated risk that could either dismantle the Syndicate’s operations or cost him his career. With covert Starfleet support, he orchestrated a leave from the Vigilant. With Intelligence support they deployed false cargo shipments and disguised him as an independent contractor willing to negotiate with the Syndicate.

Months later at Planet Oriit a Federation world, at Port Kalar, a known Syndicate stronghold, where Dante had been undercover. However, unbeknownst to Dante his cover was already blown and the Syndicate had been feeding him misinformation, and eventually attempted to eliminate him right before their largest deal was struck, and with little time to maneuver, Dante managed to get away and commandeered an Orion raider, using his tactical knowledge and experience at the port to make his escape.

Dante would eventually make it back to the Vigilant with his Commanders being none the wiser thanks to Intelligence. He would be notified by Intel that the Syndicate cell was mobilising for a large shipment of sentient beings to sell. He went to his Commanders and claimed it was intel from his informants. The Captain believe him but a lengthy back and for the between the CO, XO and Himself resulted in both senior officers advising against taking action without direct orders from Starfleet.

Dante felt that their mission was clear enough. He tracked down the details for the exchange and began to prepare for it. He asked to take three security teams to the planet surface nowhere near the area and said he was conducting drills. It was a Federation world after all and he sold the idea to his Commanders as a show of force to threaten the Syndicate that were on world, nothing more.

Though the real mission still remained widely unauthorized, he took the teams in two type 11 shuttles along his own modified runabout which was customised to be a forward operating base during large scale operations. Upon enter the surface he redirected them mid-flight to a nearby point by the crimescene. After successfully stopping the deal with no casualties, saving the poor souls about to be traded, his security teams secured the area and uncovered classified Starfleet encryption keys within Syndicate systems, irrefutable proof of an inside leak.

Amongst this extensive information found, was documents traced back to the USS Vigilant’s own Executive Officer Commander Holdman. who had been secretly funneling intelligence to the Syndicate doing his best to compromise Federation security across the sector. But before anyone could act Holdman slipped away, killing two junior officers in his silent escape out of spite.

Though unauthorized, his operation led to the dismantling of a major Orion Syndicate faction, exposed corruption within Starfleet ranks, and saved hundreds of lives by restoring vital resources to vulnerable colonies. Recognizing his exceptional leadership and tactical genius, Starfleet Command not only exonerated him for his subterfuge but promoted him to Executive Officer and awarded him the rank of Commander.

2397-2401 Back to the Academy
Feeling the weight of the events and having actively taken on tasks that did not relate to his desire to protect Starfleet from A.I. he decided to return to the halls of Starfleet Academy as an advanced tactical instructor and spent the rest of his time in rank there.

2401
The events of the Borg/Changeling invasion of Earth are devastating for Starfleet. Between the multiple accolades he received while training the next generation of Starfleet officers, his contributions to anti-AI warfare which prevented some of Earth’s defense systems from being taken over, along with the very strong recommendations and the urging from his former Commanding Officer of the Vigilant, now an Admiral due to the large vacuum in Starfleet’s Command structure. He received a promotion to Captain and accepted it along with a commission of Commanding the U.S.S. Compton a California Class vessel.

2402 USS Sherman Oaks
Dante assumed Command of the USS Compton. A rather meager vessel compared to his last posting given she is an old California class but one that is all his to Command. He implements the same strict command structure he developed all those years ago on the Aldrin and had refined aboard the Vigilant. He finds it a struggle to give up the Tactical Position but eventually settles into his evolution from supporting command to being in command.