Jonathan Hopkins

Jon was born to a father who had just gotten tenure at the Daystrom Institute of Technology on Mars, and a mother serving as a starship designer in the Starfleet Corps of Engineering at Utopia Planetia. As a result, from an early age he grew up in an intellectual environment. His parents were delighted that he, too, shared their interests in science and technology.

While he initially considered becoming a civilian scientist and enrolled at the Daystrom Institute, after graduating in three years with a degree in physics, Jon decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps and enter Starfleet Academy. He did well there, well enough that he was offered a choice of initial posting. He surprised his instructors and superior officers, however, when he rejected the offer of service on a starship– what most cadets would consider an exciting, front-line posting– and instead chose a position on a starbase.

When challenged as to why, Jon explained to his superiors that in his opinion, “real” groundbreaking research was more or less impossible on a starship. He argued that, outside of dedicated science vessels, starship science officers tend not to have the facilities or resources they need and they are handicapped by captains giving them nigh-impossible arbitrary deadlines to figure out “quick fixes” to any strange phenomena a starship might encounter.

His request for a starbase posting was granted. But, two years and some months later, orders abruptly came from Starfleet Command that he was to be reassigned to the USS Hermes. It seemed that an admiral at the Academy– an admiral who had tried to convince Jon to take a starship posting two years ago– had specifically requested him, saying his skills were “ideally suited towards starship work”.

After grumbling about it for a bit, Jon came to realize he was– at least a little– looking forward to the challenge of working in what he considered to be a more restrictive environment.