Matthias Bentley

Early Life

Born to a Starfleet Tactical Officer mother and a father who worked for the Federation Diplomatic Corps, it’s perhaps no surprise that Matthias Bentley would chart a middle course between those two careers and become a Starfleet Diplomatic Officer.

With his mothers career taking her away regularly, Matthias was raised primarily by his father and his grandparents. His love of the beach and love of surfing came from his father. From an early age they would spend Saturday and Sunday mornings on the beach with Henry teaching his son first to swim and then to surf once he reached the age of 5. After spending a few hours in the water, they would go for lunch and an ice cream. The memories of this time spent with his father are those that Matthais cherishes most.

On the occasions his mother took leave and returned to Earth, Matthis never left her side; he became her shadow. He would join her for her morning yoga practice, mimicking her movements as best he could, and they would go hiking together. When he was old enough, the family would spend a few weeks a year in the Alps or the Rockies on skiing holidays.

Matthias had aspirations of training to qualify as a teacher with plans to apply to the University of California, Santa Barbara so he could remain near the beach but by the time it came to apply, the Federation was at war with the Klingons with the Dominion threat looming. Matthias decided to put off his dream of teaching for a few years and applied to Starfleet Academy instead.  His initial intention was to become a tactical officer, like his mother, but his father convinced him that diplomacy was an area in which he could excel.

Starfleet Academy

Classes at Starfleet Academy began for Matthias in the fall of 2374. As a future diplomatic officer, Matthias was on the 4-year specialist officer track with his first year focused on his general studies as he learned how to be a starfleet officer. As he had been throughout high school, Matthias was incredibly organised when it came to his work and maintained a strong grade through his first year.

A social animal, Matthias threw himself into the social aspects of the Academy. Joining the surfing team was a no brainer for him and he also enjoyed spending time with the rock climbing and beach volleyball clubs. It was during an early meeting of the beach volleyball club that Matthais first met Thomas Forrester and Alexander Mitchell. His relationship with Mitchell was antagonistic from the get go with each man taking pleasure in winding the other up. He became close friends with Forrester in a short time, which quickly developed into a crush that was not returned by Forrester.

Just before the beginning of the second year, Starfleet Command was attacked by the Breen. The corps of cadets were quickly called into action and Matthais found himself putting the emergency medical training he’d received during the first year to use a lot sooner than he’d ever expected. This was a truly eye opening experience for the young cadet, his first real experience of the horrors of war. In the weeks that followed, Matthais considered switching to the Tactical/Security track but was talked out of it by his father and grandparents.

Having decided to major in international relations with a minor in cultural studies, Matthias began classes in these subjects only a few weeks on from the Breen’s attack. He remained conflicted about his choice of career. When the war ended a few months later, Matthias decided to stick with the diplomatic career track with the need for tactical/security officers not nearly as urgent. If anything, he thought, there would be a greater need for diplomatic officers in the post-war years.

His antagonistic relationship with Alexander Mitchell thawed during their years at the Academy and the two men became close friends, though they still enjoyed needling each other from time to time. His crush on Tom Forrester continued but Forrester wasn’t interested in anything more than some casual fun and Matthais didn’t want to be just another notch on Forrester’s bedpost. In his final year, Matthias started dating a fellow final year engineering cadet, Cole Holloway.

Starbase 72

Matthias graduated in the summer of 2378 and was assigned as a consular affairs officer on Starbase 72, while Cole was assigned to the 40 Eridani A Construction Yards working on starship construction. While based out of Starbase 72, Matthias’ work in consular affairs took him all over the Cardassian Union and to those worlds in Federation space that had once fallen inside Cardassian space but now found themselves as Federation worlds once the borders were redrawn in the post-war years. After two years on Starbase 72, Matthias was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade.

During a holiday together on Casperia in 2381, Cole proposed to Matthais, who happily accepted. They’d found their long distance relationship challenging but were finding ways to make it work and both believe their relationship was strong enough to endure the separation. The next year Cole was reassigned to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards on Mars to begin working on the fleet of ships necessary for the evacuation of Romulus. Around the same time, Matthias was reassigned to the consular affairs office on Starbase 718 to help deal with the influx of Romulans fleeing the impending destruction of Romulus.

Starbase 718

The 7 years he spent on Starbase 718 were some of the most difficult for Matthais, both professionally and personally. He got to see first hand the seemingly never ending influx of refugees fleeing from those planets predicted to be within range of the Romulan supernova’s blast radius. It was harrowing to see so many people whose lives had been torn asunder, with only the clothes on their back and what few possessions they could carry. He would be promoted to full Lieutenant after only a year on Starbase 718.

Matthias and Cole finally got married in January 2385. The ceremony was held on Earth with the couple travelling back to Casperia, where they got engaged, for their all too brief honeymoon. The Romulan relief effort was still in full swing and neither could be spared for very long. They were able to enjoy a few months of wedded bliss before it was all cruelly taken away from them. Cole was one of more than 90,000 killed in the synth attack on Mars in April 2385.

Following the attack, Matthias took two months leave and returned to Earth to spend time with his and Cole’s family and deal with the administrative things that they never tell you are involved following the death of a spouse. During this time he considered resigning and following his original career plan in teaching. However, even with the end of the Federation’s rescue efforts, Romulan refugees were still pouring into Federation space and Matthais felt obligated to help them however he could so he returned to Starbase 718 in June 2385.

The next four years were tough for Matthais as he came to terms with the loss of his husband while also seeing first hand the suffering of the Romulan refugees passing through Starbase 718. He received a promotion to Lieutenant Commander in 2378 and decided at that point to request a transfer to a new duty assignment. The flow of refugees had become a trickle and he felt that a new assignment would provide him with a chance to start fresh.

Opaka Outpost

Matthias received orders transferring him to Opaka Outpost in the Gamma Quadrant during the first quarter of 2389. In addition to transferring to a new station, he also transferred to the protocol section. After just over a decade as a consular affairs officer, Matthias was ready for a new challenge and he felt that working in the protocol section was exactly what he needed. However, throughout the nineties he couldn’t shift the nagging feeling that he was in need of a more fundamental change. Matthias was promoted to head of the protocol section in 2392

It was during his time on Opaka Station that Matthais finally opened himself up to dating again but nothing long term ever came of these dates. He struggled to really connect with them on the same level that he had with Cole and didn’t see a long term future with any of them. He enjoyed a few casual relationships but they usually fizzled out after a few weeks or months.

In 2394, Matthias was promoted to Commander and at the same time was promoted to fill the vacant post of Deputy Director of Diplomatic and Consular Affairs. The next year he was selected to head up the diplomatic detachment that would support the Federation Diplomatic Corps delegation during their mission to Darox III. During the year he spent on Darox, Matthias became good friends with a member of the interim legislature, Gret Larell, and his family.

When Matthais returned to Opaka Outpost in 2396, he was promoted to Director of Diplomatic and Consular Affairs. However, by this time that nagging feeling that had plagued him for much of the last decade had come to the fore of his mind and he began, once again, seriously considering retiring and retraining as a teacher. What had been intended as a few years diversion from his original career plan had become a 20 year long career. The idea of doing something different was daunting but eventually he decided to make the leap.

Civilian Life

Matthais retired from Starfleet in the summer of 2397 and returned to Earth, finding a house in the Outer Sunset District of San Francisco. He took a year out to read, travel and relax in a way that he’d rarely been able to during his time in Starfleet. Towards the end of that first year, he was approached by a friend who was a member of the faculty at King’s College, London. Matthias was offered a job as a lecturer in Interstellar Relations and he quickly accepted the role.

In October the following year, Matthias reconnected with Tom Forrester and AJ Mitchell, who were both assigned to the U.S.S. Challenger. The Challenger was finishing up a refit at McKinley Station and Matthais and Forrester began spending a lot of time together, much of it in bed. The pair had a connection that Matthais hadn’t felt since Cole’s death. Due to a situation unfolding on Darox, Matthias was asked by the Daroxi government to assist. He joined the Challenger, which was being dispatched by Darox. While he’d thought that his burgeoning relationship with Forrester would continue, Tom quickly began avoiding him and giving him the cold shoulder. It was only at the close of the mission that he found out that Tom had gotten the wrong idea about the nature of his relationship with Gret Larell and became jealous. When Matthais left the Challenger, the two men parted on good terms.

Returning to Earth, Matthias resumed his post at King’s and tried to settle back into his civilian life but he found himself unexpectedly unable to. His eyes were drawn to the stars once more, and to one man in particular who continued to travel among them.