Elegy Weld

Early Life (2371 – 2389)

Elegy set a common pattern in life at the moment of his birth. He was born a month too early, for his Trill biology, but the Sickbay aboard the USS Thunder Bay kept him safe. His parents, Damhnait and Fortu, had planned an informal wedding ceremony for later that month. Fortu still makes the same joke that he said on that day: Elegy wanted to attend the wedding. Elegy’s parents had never believed in traditional things like marriage, but surviving the Dominion War would change them all. Damhnait didn’t take much of a maternity leave. She was assigned to the USS Thunder Bay as a security officer. Fortu was a painter, working on his Masters of Fine Arts when he wasn’t serving drinks in the mess hall. Elegy’s sister, Imogen, was much older than him, often doting over Elegy more like a mother than Damhnait herself.

In the shadow of the end of Dominion War, there was a common sense of elation around the Thunder Bay. Elegy had many new freedoms, like roller blading through Jeffries tubes. When he class clowned through school, the teachers never stopped him. They’d all survived the Dominion; everyone needed a laugh. Elegy’s grades were good enough; his parents put little academic pressure on him. His elder sister was “the smart one”. Elegy performed with the local theatre troupe and he programmed holonovels with his friends. His parents assumed he would follow in his father’s footsteps.

Growing up on a few starships, Elegy knew great heights of constant insecurity and yet constant invulnerability. To his recollection, the ship was on the brink of destruction every other week, between spatial anomalies, novel plagues, the evacuation of Romulus, or that one time they encountered an asteroid that claimed to be a god. Elegy had his first kiss while the crew was trapped in a time loop; his first kiss with Samuel became his fiftieth kiss. Fortu’s only inklings that Elegy might follow in his mother’s footsteps was Elegy’s occasional hero worship of the Captain, and the increasing number of Starfleet officers in his holonovels. By the time Elegy applied to Starfleet Academy, and then the time Starfleet Academy actually accepted Elegy, it was simply the only life he knew

Starfleet Academy (2390 – 2394)

Majoring in Systems Science upon his arrival at Starfleet Academy on Earth, Elegy supposed he would serve Starfleet as an Operations Officer. On other days, he thought he might look better in teal. His curiosity led him in equidistant directions between the delicate operation of computer systems, the cultural systems that people create, the ecological systems that evolve upon planets, and the solar systems in which they all existed.

Elegy’s internal debate became moot in his second year at Starfleet Academy. There was a brief moment — perhaps a long weekend at most — where discussions were held about if Elegy would graduate into a third year at the academy at all. Elegy’s grades were sub-par; his focus was shattered like a kaleidoscope. Over a period of six months, Elegy’s parents had divorced, his sister had been rejected by the Symbiosis Commission only months before her scheduled joining from a symbiont, and his first Academy boyfriend had dumped him. Worse, his mother, Damhnait, was charged with dereliction of duty, and was eventually convicted and sentenced accordingly. It wasn’t only Elegy’s focus that was shattered; his entire self-image was shattered without his family waiting for him back home. Damhnait’s mercurial ways were all Elegy had known of his mother’s love; however, her crewmates could recognize a part of her had never returned from the Dominion War.

Unsurprisingly, Elegy’s focus had crystallised into a study of behaviour. His electives had become increasingly packed with psychology classes, and he was excelling in those classes, even when his LCARS studies had been floundering. It wasn’t simply the misfortunes of his family he strove to understand, the holonovels he’d written in his youth had always featured deeply introspective characters. By his third year, Elegy transferred to Starfleet Academy – Mellstoxx III to begin an intensive focus on counseling.

Medical School (2394 – 2499)

Burned by his flirtation with expulsion, Elegy classical over-corrected when he commenced studies for his medical doctorate at Starfleet Medical Academy. He packed away childish things like writing holonovels and valuing punchlines as greater than oxygen. Rather, Elegy was prone to small friend-groups of extreme loyalty. He bonded quickly with one or two friend platonically, and one or two friend romantically, and poured all of his social energies into them. He began practicing at living a double-life between the professional, if fragile, counselor and the messy friend who needs a couple of drinks to blur the harsher edges of unwelcome thoughts and feelings.

As he began to practice counseling, Elegy wasn’t at the top of the class when it came to… actually literally talking to patients. Noting his observational and methodological skills, Elegy’s professors noted he had the makings of an exceptional diagnostician. Conversely, Elegy didn’t immediately learn how to build rapport with a wide variety of patients. He could connect with patients who were like himself, but he would become combative with patients he believed were lying; he would withdraw from patients he believed were judging him. Still, Elegy never shied away from experiences. He committed to his studies with the goal of becoming a psychiatrist.  While Elegy began his residency at Starfleet Medical’s hospital facility, he further split his time by continuing his studies into public health and hospital administration.

Starbase Bravo (2399 – 2400)

Elegy was assigned to Starbase Bravo to give him the patient face-time practice that would catch him up to his academic abilities. Absolutely abruptly, Elegy broke up with his boyfriend of two years to avoid the stress of a long-distance relationship. Unbound and untethered, Elegy launched into his assignment to Starbase Bravo as a counselor.

Elegy’s arrival at Starbase Bravo was a crash landing.  His transport runabout was damaged by an ion storm and his leg was mangled in the process.  Elegy’s introduction to the hospital staff was as a patient and, with their treatment,  Elegy was able to assume his post as counselor.  While Elegy had expected to be treating broken hearted Starfleet ensigns and lieutenants with egos the size of planetoids, the destructive effects of the Century Storm brought survivors from all over the Paulson Nebula to Starbase Bravo for refuge.  Weld provided emergency medical assistance to survivors stranded in escape pods, psychiatric assistance to patients living with grief and other neurological illnesses, and shared his expertise with an anthropological study of Federation emergency management policies aboard the Raven-class USS Nestus.  By the time ion storms had passed, Elegy was promoted to Staff Psychiatrist.

Through the crucible of his year aboard Starbase Bravo, Elegy offered himself as a peer mentor to the new counselors who were assigned to the starbase, offering advice and a listening ear.  After surviving the Century Storm, there wasn’t much Elegy felt he couldn’t handle.  His newfound confidence was put to the test when the Romulan Star Empire collapsed and Romulan refugees were welcomed aboard Starbase Bravo.  So soon after the Century Storm, the size of the counseling departments proved insufficient for the massive numbers of civilian patients requiring their services, on top of the starbase’s Starfleet complement.  While Elegy supported his share of patients, he put more of his energy into advocating for the well-being of his peers and developing new schedule rotations, based on his public health training, to allow the counseling staff to maximize their utility without requiring overtime upon overtime shift.  Weeks later, as many of the Romulan refugees began to be relocated to new homes, members of the counseling leadership team were reassigned elsewhere in the Fourth Fleet.  In consideration of replacements, Elegy Weld’s leadership capabilities were considered, and he was promoted to Lieutenant as the Deputy Director of Psychiatry.

USS Ascension (2401 – 2401)

Still struggling to find emotional fulfillment from treating patients as a psychiatrist, Weld requested a transfer from Starbase Bravo.  While serving a tour as Assistant Chief Medical Officer aboard the USS Elamos, Lieutenant Weld managed to avoid disaster on Frontier Day, because his starship was docked at Starbase Bravo for the festivities.  The proximity of the Paulson Nebula protected Starbase Bravo from the Borg Queen’s assimilation transmission.  None of the young officers aboard the starbase were tele-assimilated and Weld avoided the fate that took the lives of so many experienced officers across Starfleet.  Given the crew shortages, Weld was swiftly promoted to Lieutenant Commander ahead of his promotion schedule and assigned to the USS Ascension as her Chief Medical Officer.