Summary
Tokala is a full-blooded Mohawk Native American. He joined Starfleet more to please his boyfriend rather than out of any deep commitment. But once in excelled and thrived and grew to have a passion for it.
He is good at analyzing data and facts and figures but from a unique intuitive perspective.
More of an introvert than an extrovert he is also an astute and insightful Intelligence Agent.
History
In ancient times, the Mohawk people were known as Keepers of the Eastern Door and were the traditional guardians of the Iroquois Confederation against invaders from the East. In other words, they were warriors. They were also traders and were equally adept at both skills.
Historically, the Mohawk people were originally based in the valley of the Mohawk River in present-day upstate New York, west of the Hudson River. Their territory ranged north to the St. Lawrence River, southern Quebec and eastern Ontario; south to greater New Jersey and into Pennsylvania; eastward to the Green Mountains of Vermont; and westward to the border with the Iroquoian Oneida Nations’s traditional homeland territory.
Though that is now ancient history, it was not forgotten, those traditions were passed down from generation to generation at least in the Brant family.
Tokala is a direct descendant of Joseph Brant, an influential Mohawk Chief, a military and political leader who lived from March 1743 to November 24, 1807. He was born on March 7, 2371, on Stratton Mountain in Vermont.
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For the most part, Tokala had an ordinary childhood. His family was far from perfect, but there were no major issues. His parents taught them the traditions of their people and believed in giving their children a strong foundation. They also believed in allowing them the freedom to make their own decisions.
His parents were caretakers at the Stratton Mountain Resort. He and his siblings also helped keep the place up, so he grew up with a strong work ethic. He spent a lot of time outdoors. Especially when he was younger and learned to ski when he was seven and became quite good at it. By the time he was a teenager he was an instructor and working on the Search and Rescue Team.
In addition to his outdoor activities, Tokala had an aptitude for technical things as well, especially on the more creative side. He started writing holonovels when he was in middle school though they weren’t very good at that age. His skills did get better as he got older.
He was never a social butterfly, being too much of an introvert, but he did start to come out of his shell after he started in High School. He even ran for class president his freshman year. He lost in a dramatic fashion and never ran again until he got out of High School. He did, however, organize the campaigns of his friends and had much better success there.
When he was a Sophomore he met and fell in love with an Adorian boy named Ren. They got in some minor trouble the Summer of their Junior year, the exact nature of which was sealed by court order and neither boy has talked about it or revealed what happened. The only thing they would ever say is that no one got hurt.
They entered the Academy together in 2389 but it was more Ren’s idea than Tocala. The Native American would have been content to pursue a career on Earth and watch the stars. But his boyfriend felt much differently.
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The relationship started to unravel their freshman year. Tokala, who had been a mediocre student, though popular student in High School, began to excel at the Academy. He would never become valedictorian, but he was in the top fifteen percent of his graduating class. With Ren, it was just the opposite. He’d been the big man on campus in High School At the Academy, he was just one of many bright Cadets
This was especially grating on Ren when Tokala beat his scores and grades in the Intelligent classes they were both taking. Jealousy began to build and it soon affected their entire relationship. By the end of their sophomore year, their relationship was officially over.
The next year and a half was a turbulent one for Takola. He went from a stable relationship to a lot of one night stands and meaningless encounters. At the same time, he was able to compartmentalize his life and studied hard and took one more responsibility and while he was never in the top ten percent of his class, his grades noticeably improved He remained on the Intelligence Track.
There were two branches in that track; infiltration, and analysis. He was initially drawn to the infiltration side because he’d always been good are reading people and even though he was something of an introvert, he found that acting, or playing a role to be different and something he was good at.
However, at the insistence of his guidance counselor, he started taking classes on the analysis side. He found himself excelling in that area because he took more of an intuitive approach to the data than a strictly analytical one.
Because of his ability to mesh the two specialties together and his skill in organizing things (and people.)got him noticed by some higher-ups, so he was asked to also train in strategic operations. After giving it some thought he agreed and found it to be a good fit for his temperament and abilities.
He balanced his academic side with playing soccer and Dom Jet on an intramural level and Parrises Squares on a competitive one
His Senior year was his best year. He settled down, became celibate, joined the elite Red Squad and even became the class President. Running his own election campaign.
Upon graduating in 23, 2393 his first assignment was aboard the USS Franklin a Defiant-class ship, where he served as an encryption specialist. This was not a strength of his and his evaluations were far from stellar. He did learn some practical understanding of the chain of command and how Starfleet operated, that it was much different than what was taught in the classroom so in that sense he was successful.
In 2394 he was assigned to the USS Vagabond an Intrepid-class ship. He was a little close to his field of specialization, where he served as an infiltration specialist. He was there for a year and a half and his main focus was in undercover work. He even took down a rogue Starship Captian. Still Captain T’lar, a Vulcan put in charge of first the Gamma shift and near the end of his tenure the Beta shift, when he was not actively involved in his Intel work.
Infiltration was his primary responsibility, but he also was liaisoning with other ships and became an assistant to the Strategic Operations Officer. He served there until 2396.
The first two and a half years were a foundation for his future career, giving him a broad understanding of a wide variety of fields.
Except in wartime, a ship is not the ideal place for a Stat Ops officer, so, in March of 2396, he was promoted to Lt. (jg) and transferred to Deep Space 5 where he was able to start putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
He did some short term undercover operations other intelligent duties including interrogations. In one of those, with lives on the line, he pushed the envelope of civility and engaged in some enhanced interrogation techniques. He got the information and an attack on a Federation outpost was averted, but he received an official reprimand in his permanent record.
That incident may have delayed the trajectory of his career, and it certainly put his Intelligence work in the back seat to the other part of his duties, but it was a choice he does not regret. Nevertheless, he was able to work his way up to Assistant Chief Strategic Operations Officer.
The secret to advising the Command Staff was to listen more than he talked, to have his stuff together and to back up his instincts and recommendations with facts and figures.
His time as a shift commander on the Vagabond along with his natural talents helped him to be above-average in coordinating Starfleet and allied assets in the region.
Because of his unique skill set and the needs and mission of the SB 38 he was transferred to that ship in 23999