Alenis Anjar

Pre-Starfleet History (2351 – 2370)

Born Anjar Alenis in 2354 on Bajor during the height of the Cardassian Occupation, Anjar was the only son of Vedek Anjar Torun. Vedek Anjar was one of the few vedeks who had not been imprisoned for public preaching, but he did harbor regular prayer meetings in the basement of his home and earned a reputation as being one of the most important people protecting Bajor’s cultural heritage. Early in his life, Anjar’s mother, Anjar Lara, was executed by the Cardassians when she was caught with a crate of sacred texts that she was moving from the abandoned home of an imprisoned vedek to the Anjar household. In order to save himself and his son, Vedek Anjar was forced to disavow his wife, and his son never forgave him. Beyond this, Vedek Anjar hoped that his son would follow in his footsteps, but Anjar was never convinced that the Bajorans’ religion was anything but folk superstition at the best or a liability at the worst. Once the occupation ended, Anjar knew that he wanted to get as far away from Bajor as possible.

Starfleet Academy & Medical School (2370 – 2376)

By 2370, Starfleet was making a concerted effort to give the citizens of Bajor opportunities to serve in Starfleet to cement relations between the Bajorans and the Federation. Due to poor recordkeeping and destroyed archives, Anjar’s precise birth year was uncertain by Federation standards, but he was able to pass the entrance examination between his eighteenth and nineteenth actual birthdays. He knew from the start of his career that he wished to become a doctor, studying science and medicine that hadn’t been available to him growing up, not just because of the occupation but because of his life in a religious household.

As a freshman, Anjar met the love of his life, Adrian Corella, who was two years ahead of him at the academy. Bajoran culture wasn’t particularly homophobic, but it was definitely pro-procreation, though, and male-male relationships were unusual, if not taboo per se, so Anjar had no experience dating another man until he met Corella. Their romance was passionate and fast-paced, and by their second date, Anjar was sure he wanted to spend the rest of time with him. Corella graduated in 2374 and shipped out for the front lines of the Dominion War days after the two of them had become engaged. He was killed a few months later aboard the Valley Forge at the First Battle of Chin’Toka.

While the fact that he had been left behind was tough enough, not being present to say goodbye to his fiance impacted Anjar significantly. He was already quite reserved, but that experience caused him to withdraw even further. He avoided succumbing to despair by throwing himself into his studies. By graduation in 2376, he had few friends but he had a stellar, unimpeachable academic record.

Neurology Residency (2376 – 2380)

As a junior lieutenant, Anjar started his neurological residency at Starfleet Medical on Earth in 2376, serving on Earth until 2380. After working on a few cases involving Vulcans, he published several articles that have earned him a lasting reputation as an expert in the Vulcanoid brain, which he has since expanded to include expertise in Romulan physiology.

USS Point Arena (2380 – 2387)

Following his residency, Anjar had a choice of several assignments, but he elected to join the crew of the California-class starship Point Arena, knowing that he needed to establish his credentials as a starship medical officer sooner rather than later, after spending the first four years of his career shorebound. Beyond the career necessity, he was also just tired of being planetside and wanted a new challenge.

The Point Arena was assigned to several medical support missions during his three-year tour aboard, which allowed him to gain substantial experience in mass casualty scenarios. Starting in 2381, the ship was largely assigned to support the Romulan evacuation efforts, which allowed him to put his expertise with Vulcanoids into good use.

In 2383, he was promoted to lieutenant commander and chief medical officer.  During this period, the evacuation ramped up and the Point Arena was handling back-to-back refugee convoy assignments for weeks at at time, often serving as the medical center for several thousands of refugees at once. In 2385, the effort was abruptly halted following the attack on Mars, and the Point Arena lingered in support of the refugee camps for eighteen months, before being recalled for refit in early 2387.

Starfleet Medical, Bajor  (2387 – 2390)

As the most credentialed and qualified Bajoran neurologist in Starfleet, Anjar was tapped to become Head of Neurology at the new Starfleet Medical facility on Bajor in 2387, but he was resistant. Although he cited his experience with Vulcanoid and not Bajoran neurological conditions, it was seen as important by the Surgeon General’s office that the senior medical staff at the new facility on Bajor should be majority Bajoran, and he was given little choice in the matter. As an attempt to secure other postings, though, Anjar completed the bridge officer’s examination in the same year and earned his promotion to commander, as well as the qualification to command a starship.

His protests not withstanding, Anjar was unwilling to disobey the transfer orders and took up residency on Bajor in 2387, though he insisted on housing within the hospital itself. He resisted even meeting his father until more than a year in the assignment, which went better than he thought it would, but was not the catharsis or resolution he’d hoped it would be. After 2.5 years, he’d had enough and formally requested a transfer.

Starbase 72 (2390 – 2391)

In lieu of a permanent assignment, Anjar was posted to Starbase 72 for about nine months as a medical officer. He would meet then-Lieutenant Michael Lancaster, one of his future captains here, but otherwise this posting was simply a waystation until he found a more permanent home.

USS Honjo (2391 – 2399)

In the end, Anjar was assigned as Chief Medical Officer aboard the USS Honjo in 2391. An Olympic-class hospital ship, he found himself in charge of a far larger medical contingent than he had under him even working in a shorebound hospital. As was typical for an assignment to a ship of this class, he was promoted to captain and commanding officer after 3 years aboard, moving into the center seat as an experienced officer and medical expert, but relying on an operations-track first officer for advice on the daily management of a starship.

Though a floating hospital, Anjar realized that he simply wasn’t interested in running a starship of any sort. On the one hand, it was too hard to resist scrubbing in to help down in sickbay, but on the other hand it just was not what he’d trained over an entire career for. He was, however, considered to be highly effective and he maintained his role for the full five years of his appointment, stepping aside in 2399. At this point in his career, he continued many different options, but accepted a role as a starship chief medical officer again, rather than a shore posting or retirement.

USS Arcturus (2399 – Present)

Anjar joined the Arcturus in early 2399, heading a medical staff of over two-hundred with two deputies to assist him. He enjoyed the role significantly more than commanding his own ship, and was happy to defer any possible bridge duty to other officers who enjoyed those roles more. Indeed, he was still only the third officer, following captains in the first officer and chief engineering officer slots. During the Tkon Crisis in mid-late 2399, though, his status as the only other member of the command staff who had recieved the classified briefings given only to starship commanders meant that he had to step up as acting executive officer when the ship separated for a classified mission.