Jack Conrad

Political Information

• Affiliation: Starfleet, United Earth Commonwealth

Family

• Mother: Janean Conrad.
• Father: John Michael Conrad Sr.
• Brother: Brian Conrad.
• Sister: Andrea Conrad

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Biography

Early Life

John Michael “Jack” Conrad Jr. was the first of his family to be born on another planet. His mother and father, a museum curator and veterinarian, respectively, moved to Luna Colony for his mother’s job, assistant director of the Mare Tranquilities Museum of Human Exploration.

The move to the Moon was also the first time a Conrad had been to that body in 160 years, and Jack Jr. was born 160 years to the day after his ancestor, Charles “Pete” Conrad, commander of the American moon mission Apollo 12, became the third human being to set foot on the lunar surface.

At Tycho City’s Dave Bowman High School, young Jack excelled in physics and was captain of the schools competitive flying squad, a position that helped him secure an appointment to Starfleet Training Command and earned him a flock of admiring females.

Starfleet Career

Early Career

ack’s love affair with flying and with as many women as he could handle continued at STC and he hustled his way onto the prestigious Yeager Squadron flight team.

Among his own kind hotshot helmsmen all cut from the same cloth Jack flourished. Conrad attracted trouble, though, during his fourth year. As a way of paying tribute to the humans who had taken those first steps into outer space, young Jack put together a maverick team of his own with a single goal in mind: construct a working replica of the Mercury Redstone rocket, launch it into space and successfully splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the shore of California. Jack, himself, was pilot of the Mercury capsule. The project was not sanctioned by Starfleet Training Command staff, and was unknown until it happened. A junior controller detected a chemical rocket launch and, thinking it was an old-style nuclear missile, declared a planetwide emergency.

As the ringleader, Jack took the fall and was expelled from Training Command, weeks before graduating. He returned home in disgrace, only able to get a job making cargo runs to the Martian Colonies.

Jack kept in contact with his academy classmates and felt a pang of regret with each correspondence. They would often write to him about the new and exotic locations they had visited with their respective assignments, and it only punctuated the fact that he was essentially driving a bus between Earth and Mars, day in and day out. He repeatedly put his name on the list for potential employment with the Earth Cargo Service but was always passed over for pilots with more experience.

E.C.S. Raven 

He caught a lucky break, though, when the E.C.S. Raven returned to port after a run to Risa. Jack found out from a nurse he had been seeing that the Raven’s flight officer had caught a social disease on Risa and that he would be out of commission for at least three months. Jack went to the ship’s skipper, laid out his qualifications, threw a few hands of poker and was immediately hired.

The skipper was so impressed with Jack’s piloting skills that he offered him the position permanently. Over the last four years, he has honed his skills outrunning pirates, computing the most profitable routes, and modifying the ship’s guidance and navigation systems for better performance.  Jack started to enjoy his time on the J-class cargo vessel. He became close with Captain Logan Montague, almost seeing the man as a father figure. Montague always believed in Jack and would often push him in his abilities and the chances he took. He encouraged Jack to develop his engineering skills further, to the point that Jack knew the ins and outs of the Raven’s systems, in particular its engines. Being a pilot himself, Montague also taught everything he knew about flying to Jack.

In early 2155, the Raven responded to the distress call from two Earth colony ships that were under attack. The ship arrived late to offer any assistance; however, Captain Montague decided to intercept them as his ship was heading to Archer IV, the same destination as the colony ships. When they arrived, they encountered the Challenger (NX-03), the first warp five vessel they had ever seen before. Simultaneously a Vulcan combat cruiser arrived to offer help too. The three ships worked together to help the colony ships, with the Raven taking on some of the less injured colonists and crew. This would be the last time that Jack would see the Raven. He was ordered by Captain Montague to ferry over from Challenger Ensign Ned Hennessey, the ship’s communication officer who was coming over to the Raven to help repair its subspace radio. Jack impressed the ensign with his flying abilities.

Challenger (NX-03)

When Challenger needed an experienced pilot, due to the chief helm officer being severely injured when they battled the Romulans to save the colony ships, Ensign Hennessey took an alternative route to help the ship with its recruitment issue. He took an unconventional approach and directly approached Captain Burton with the idea of returning Jack to Starfleet and bringing him on board their ship to help with their mission. Initially Burton was reluctant to go along with the idea, but when their mission became critical and Ensign Hathaway, his second helm officer, was unable to fulfil her duties due to exhaustion Burton took on Hennessey’s idea. He approached Captain Montague and requested that Jack be temporarily assigned to Challenger for their plan to save Archer IV to succeed. Montague agreed and under protest Jack returned to duty with the provisional rank of ensign. Flying the Challenger into battle, Jack ensured the ship survived its ordeal against the Romulans as the small combined allied fleet fought to free the area. They were able to force the Romulans to retreat from the system. For his impressive actions, Captain Burton offered Jack a permanent position on board his ship with the full field commission of ensign. Jack, knowing that he enjoyed the experience of flying such an advanced ship, agreed to Burton’s offer. He took over as the ship’s chief helm officer and left the Raven behind. Hoping this would be a brand-new chapter in his life.

Once the situation in the Archer system was secure, the Challenger was ordered to begin its exploration mission. During this time Jack began to form good friendships with his crewmates. He became sexually involved with Ensign Martha Habiba, the ship’s second science officer. The two eventually developed their relationship in becoming a romantic one. Soon a small number of the junior officers formed a close-knit group, of which Jack was part of. Jack was also taking under Ensign Hennessey’s wing; the two would sometimes share their meals in-between shifts.

The ship’s exploration mission was partly interrupted when Challenger was invited to Andoria by its new elected leader: Chancellor Margerit. Margerit wished to discuss with Burton the possibility of strengthening ties between Earth and Andoria. Jack flew Captain Burton, Commander Leveseque, Sub Commander T’Plau and Private Jenkins in Shuttlepod One down to Andoria to meet with its leader. Conrad hadn’t dealt with any world leaders or politicians before and found this mission a massive learning curve in understanding the basic of diplomacy. When the Andorian colony on Docana was invaded by Malurians and Nausicaans, Challenger led several Starfleet ships in the area to provide relief aid once the Andorian fleet was able to repel the invasion force. Unfortunately, almost the entire Andorian task force was obliterated by a minefield. Captain Burton was given command of the remaining forces and ordered to liberate the fallen colony by the Andorian chancellor and Prime Minister Samuels. One part of that mission was destroying the minefield that encircled the Docana system. Jack joined Commander Stanton’s team to disable and take control of a minefield that had been setup by the invaders (which was a combined military force of Malurian and Nausicaan ships). The team discovered that Romulans were supporting the Malurian-Nausicaan forces. During the mission the team had to piggy-back a ride on a comet that was going through the system. Jack successfully landed their shuttlepod on it and while they waited, he spent the time teaching Sub Commander a number of card games. He also developed a good friendship with Commander Stanton. Eventually the team were able to analyse the mines and discovered that they were Romulan in origin. They were able to use the minefield against the Malurian-Nausicaan forces which contributed to the successful liberation of the colonists. However, during the incident Jack was forced to crash land their shuttlepod on Docana, due to it being heavily damaged. After leaving their crash site, the landing party took refuge in caves under a large mountain range with other Andorian survivors. There Jack interacted with the Andorians until they were rescued.

During the middle of 2155 the ship was ordered to make official first contact with the Deltan species on behalf of the Earth Commonwealth and its allies in the Coalition of Planets. Initially the first contact went well with both side exchanging ideas peacefully, but the ship was dragged in to an ongoing conflict the Deltans were having with a neighbouring race known as the Carreons. Eventually the Carreons began a campaign of attacking the ship on a regular basis. As their weapons weren’t as advanced compared to Starfleet’s, the ship received little damaged until they persisted and repeated their attacks almost daily. Jack saw his piloting skills put to the test where he pushed the ship to its limits to avoid being hit by enemy fire while at the same time giving them the opportunity to fire back.  In their last battle they engaged a Romulan Bird-of-Prey which they discovered was using a telepresence capturing system to control Carreon vessels. They were able to avoid being captured themselves and disabled the craft; unfortunately, the Romulans were not prepared to be captured and destroyed their ship. Jack attempted to move the ship out of harm’s way however the shockwave from the exploding ship severely damaged Challenger further. Burton told Jack, along with the rest of the senior staff, his decision to order the crew to abandon ship when it became heavily damaged and unable to sustain the entire crew. Burton gave Doctor Ben-Ami a battlefield promotion to lieutenant commander and ordered her to take command of the crew and lead them to a safe place. Jack would be responsible in flying their remaining shuttlepod and was put in command of ensuring the escape pods had a guardian angel as they travelled away from their damaged ship. The crew were led to a Minshara-class world they had detected on long range sensors as a place of sanctuary. The trip took a very long time in escape pods and one shuttlepod, eventually they arrived in orbit. When they began their decent, they encountered an alien craft that originated from the world. The vessel opened fire after Kefira attempted to contact them. Their engagement gave the other escape pods time to move out of harm’s way and land on the planet without being hassled, but Kefira’s own escape pod was damaged and was forced to crash land elsewhere. Jack once again flew the shuttlepod with skill and attempted to take out the aggressor, however his abilities were not enough and eventually their ship was captured. He along with Ensign Metaxas, Corporal Jenkins and Second Lieutenant Trommler were made prisoners of the aliens and taken to one of their settlements. While imprisoned they were tortured for any information along with being analysed and subjected to various tests. Eventually their new hosts took them out of prison and gave them back their freedom, with restrictions. As the senior most officer in the group, Jack took lead of his team when they met with the aliens’ leader, a man named High Advisor Tonisus. Tonisus explained to the group that they were on a planet named Ardana and his people were known as the Ardanans. Public knowledge of “off-worlders” or aliens was unknown, only those high up in their government and military were aware of life on other worlds. Tonisus attempted to make it up to Jack’s team by treating them like real guests once his military advisors believed they were not a threat to their world. Jack’s team soon discovered that the Ardanans lived on cloud-cities that were levitating settlements. Jack’s team spent almost a fortnight with the Ardanans, learning about their history and culture. While they remained on Stratos, the capital cloud city, Jack had his team repair their shuttle. He agreed to a pact laid out by High Advisor Tonisus, in return for safe harbour for the entire crew – Jack’s team had to help the Ardanans find Kefira and the rest of the crew. Tonisus’ administration was worried that the public would find out about the “off-worlders” and widespread panic would erupt across their world. Originally, they weren’t successful and their efforts hit a snag when a Carreon vessel crash landed on the planet. The vessel wiped out an entire mining settlement. Tonisus became uneasy, feeling that if they found the Humans and returned them to Stratos that people would become suspicious. He ordered Jack and his team to leave Stratos and to avoid his people at all cost. Their departure was a swift one and Jack was more than happy to leave to find the others. Once the four men returned to their crewmates, they shared with them their experiences with the Ardanans. Kefira agreed with Jack’s recommendation in not making contact with the Ardanans, just in case they became aggressive towards them.  Eventually the entire crew were rescued when Captain Burton and the others entered orbit of Ardana. They came with help with the Andorians and with a few days of hard work the entire crew were returned to Challenger.  Kefira placed a commendation in Jack’s file for his bravery and leadership during their time on Ardana. Jack formed a closer bond with the other three that had been with him on Stratos and knew that the existence of the Ardanan people and their cloud cities would be a secret they would take with their graves.

Challenger returned to Earth to discover the United Earth Commonwealth, along with its allies from the Coalition of Planets, were engaged in an all-out of war with the Romulan Star Empire. It was no surprise to anyone on the crew. During a minor re-shuffle of the senior staff, Captain Burton promoted Jack to the rank of lieutenant junior grade in response to his excellent effort during the mission on Ardana. Burton felt that Jack had a high amount of potential and wanted him to develop through his career sooner rather than later. Sadly though, after Challenger was repaired and sent out to the frontlines, Jack was informed of the news that the ECS Raven had been destroyed during a Romulan attack. Everyone he knew on the freighter was listed as dead. The tragedy severely affected Jack. Jack went on to volunteer for a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. During his time on a captured Romulan drone ship, he was instrumental in ensuring the mission was a success. He was killed in the last moments of their victory when the ship was badly damaged and a falling bulkhead pierced his EVA suit. He died in the arms of Commander Stanton, comforted that he had got revenge for the crew of the Raven.

Legacy

Jack’s death affected a number of the crew, especially those who were close to him. Fortunately, he went out of his way before his undercover mission on the drone ship to repair things with Martha Habiba. He had told Second Lieutenant Trommler that he regretted not doing it sooner and even told Luis that he truly did love Martha. Jack’s official portrait was hung in the mess hall of the Challenger as part of a wall of memorial for their fallen comrades. His picture was first in the row.