Mine-runner

Born of the second wave of eggs to hatch to the All-Mother, Mine-runner a respectable 130 Terran years old. Born into the mines of Janus VI, Mine-runner learned of the outside galaxy from the Federation miners who were working on the planet with the horta. Upon the offer being made to expand horta mining operations and to essentially provide off-world colonies for the horta race, Mine-runner became a vocal advocate for such an endeavour, lobbying extensively across the horta to convince the All-Mother to accept such an offer.

While not chosen for the first colony, Mine-runner was chosen for the Horta’s second colony, working closely with an andorian mining consortium to turn a barely profitable endeavour into a wildly successful one, especially after the discovery of a vein of pure duranium. No only did Mine-runner oversee the extraction of this compound, but oversaw a combined horta/andorian smelter that produced duranium alloys for starship construction.

With advances beyound the crude universal translators and treatments for atmospheric adaptability becoming more and more readily available, Mine-runner expressed an interest in Starfleet – as a means of self-improvement, to see the galaxy for hortakind and to grow the horta reputation. It took a few years to train a replacement and convince Third-Mother, but eventually Mine-runner joined Starfleet in the year 2293 as peace with the Klingon Empire went from a mere possibility to an actual reality.

Serving for nearly twenty years, Mine-runner returned to Sigma Octanis IV a Lieutenant and spent years imparting all it had learned to it’s people. Then upon the request of the Third-Mother traveled first to Janus VI to tell the All-Mother of the wonders of the universe before doing the same with the other horta colonies. A deeply thoughtful and intellectual species, the horta took to his influx of information, from a hortacentric view and decided that perhaps another wave of colonies should be considered, with young horta even wishing to join Starfleet in larger numbers, they themselves wishing to follow in the footsteps of Mine-runner who had in the aftermath returned home to oversee a new mine.

When the threat to Romulus became apparent to the Federation and raw materials for starship production were stretched thin, the horta answered the call, providing their assistance to supply the shipyards with their desired needs. It was at this time that Mine-runner rejoined Starfleet, to act as go-between for Starfleet and the horta people. When the Utopia Plantia shipyards were destroyed and lives were lost, not just in the attack but in the Federation’s inability to help the Romulans, who the horta harboured no aggression to, Mine-runner did not take it well to begin with.

On Earth at the time for a project meeting, Mine-runner volunteered for search and rescue on Mars, a horta’s natural ability for tunneling and sensing what surrounded them being helpful in the wreckage of Utopia Plantia’s ground based facilities. Again, Mine-runner’s organisational skills came through and suitably impressed the right people that when all the work was done an offer was made to retrain properly and rejoin the fleet, not as a liaison but as an actual officer once more.

A short trip home, then conversations with colleagues, the Third-Mother, even Federation medical professionals on the newest universal translator for horta, now not much bigger then a standard tricorder, and medical advancements for operating in oxygen-atmospheres for extended periods of time being only required once a year at most, Mine-runner decided to once more trek amongst the stars and see if they had changed any since its youth.

A couple of years back on Earth, then a year at a university on Terra Nova and Mine-runner was back in Starfleet, once more in Operations but now conversant in modern adaptive technologies, processes and guidelines. While it has been nearly a decade since regaining one’s officer pips, Mine-runner now finds itself posted to a station further from Home then any horta had ever previously dreamed of. The Delta Quadrant is a rich part of the galaxy. Of course they’ll need a horta to organise it properly.