Adamant Rhade

Childhood

As a son of the Seventh House of Betazed, the earliest years of Adamant Rhade’s life were of peace, comfort, and privilege. As a part of a lesser wing of the noble family, with kind and loving parents, there was little obligation or expectation for him to do more than live his life as a conscientious member of Betazoid society. But with the Dominion War was the occupation, Betazed falling to the Jem’hadar. Adamant was too young to do more than be sheltered by his parents, but the Seventh House suffered greatly, and he witnessed many of the hardships and struggles of his people.

Once a joyful and gregarious child, Adamant emerged from the occupation changed. He never lost his care for or engagement with others, but grew to be a young man committed to the family’s traditions of service, and particularly service to Betazed. He was barely an adolescent when his parents arranged his future marriage to Rosara Thawn of the Twelfth House, but he took the agreement in-stride and without argument.

As a teenager he expressed a desire to join Starfleet, not as a lifelong commitment but with the intention of returning to Betazed after a decade or two of service. It was thought likely he would prove himself in the stars and eventually serve in his homeworld’s royal guard, a largely ceremonial position that he believed would allow him to work to rebuild and preserve his people’s traditions.

Early Career

With this commitment and his natural intellect, dedication, and way with people, his application to Starfleet was accepted. Rhade attended the Academy campus on Mellstoxx III, a Betazoid colony. He studied history and trained to be a security officer, and during his studies was a member of the campus’s Parrises Squares team and represented it in competitive boxing. Always well-liked and sociable, Rhade still developed a reputation for being serious-minded and hyper-committed, the kind of student who attended parties but never stayed late.

He graduated high in his class, and was assigned to the USS Warspite patrolling the border with the old Neutral Zone. While serving as a security officer, Rhade immediately pushed for more responsibility – serving as many shifts as he could as reserve tactical officer and signing up for the Hazard Team. On such a chaotic frontier, Rhade saw extensive action, but demonstrated himself a composed and reserved officer, mindful of Starfleet’s principles of peacekeeping and protection.

One mission engaged the forces of a warlord raiding a supply convoy, with the Hazard Team deployed in a boarding action to repel a team aboard a Federation freighter. The operation was successful, the convoy defended, but Rhade was shot and badly injured.

Expecting a moderate recovery time, and eligible for advancement, Rhade accepted reassignment. He was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and given a security team with Betazoid Sector Security. His first month of the two-year assignment were spent with light duties to recover from his wounds. For the rest of the post, Rhade demonstrated his political acumen and talents in building connections, using local knowledge and relationships to effectively lead the team.

His family encouraged him to leave the service at the end of this post and return permanently to Betazed. Rhade, perhaps eager to demonstrate the worth of Starfleet, instead took an offer to study in the Starfleet Advanced Tactical Training Programme. Upon completion he accepted advancement to Lieutenant and assignment to the USS Hotspur.

Commitments

For four years, Rhade served as Assistant Chief of Security and led the Hotspur’s Hazard Team. He turned down two offers in that time to be reassigned as a department head elsewhere, bonding closely with the crew and expressing commitment to the mission. With the Hotspur on the border with the Tzenkethi and Breen, the ship saw significant action. Despite his talent and experience in leadership, Rhade expressed in discussions with superiors that he would rather remain where he felt he could be useful to maximise his time in Starfleet, rather than pursue personal ambition.

It was thus a surprise to many of his colleagues when Rhade discovered the USS Endeavour was in need of a Hazard Team leader, and accepted a move from security to command when he transferred aboard as an Officer of the Watch. But the move brought him to the same ship as his fiancée Rosara Thawn, and once there, Rhade made it plain he hoped the assignment would give them a chance to build a relationship, as they had never spent much time together.

Their time together was fraught. The two struggled to build a connection, but their commitments to their family kept them together. Rhade fought for the two to work things out, but began to realise that they would never truly belong together. However, over the years, he formed a connection with Lieutenant Dathan, a troubled young officer, only to be betrayed when it was found out she was a spy. The second hammer-blow came during the Blood Dilithium crisis, when the dangerous mineral’s influence on telepaths led Rhade to violent behaviour out of his control.

Although he had given Endeavour years of excellent service, earning accolades at Izar, Agarath, and Archanis, Rhade took these blows to his trust in himself badly. Despite his misgivings, when Thawn insisted they marry – a civil arrangement at first, the Betazoid ceremony still not yet completed – he ignored his better judgement and agreed.

Doubting himself, struggling with his sense of worth, Rhade found he could not stay on the Endeavour. After his excellent service in the Deneb Campaign, Commander Zihan Shepherd offered him a place on Gateway Station, with more than a fresh start, but a chance of more responsibility. Believing his marriage worked best if he was nowhere near his wife, not trusting himself or his judgement, and standing by officers who helped him believe in himself, Rhade accepted.