Sterek

Sterek was born to an ancient and highly traditional clan in Da-Leb province on Vulcan, and grew up with a large extended family.

In the year 2357, his betrothed mate, T’Zara, shot herself in the head with an unsecured Starfleet firearm shortly before they were due to be married. She had previously implored Sterek to break off their arranged marriage, but Sterek had refused. Rather than declare ritual combat, and risk the death of the woman she loved, T’Zara made a rash and tragic decision whilst experiencing early symptoms of pon farr, and her suicide caused a considerable rift between the two clans.

Sterek maintains no further contact with his birth family. However, he maintains sporadic contact with his intended in-laws and has on occasion participated in memorial rituals for T’Zara.

Following the wishes of his parents, Sterek attended a provincial Medical University before entering Starfleet Academy at the age of 21. Early evaluations marked Sterek as a determined, ambitious, and highly intelligent individual, if not also quite arrogant. He was serving as a medical officer aboard the USS Chrysippus at the time of his wife’s death.

This event changed Sterek’s outlook significantly. At his own request, he transferred away from the USS Chrysippus to engage in planet-based and humanitarian services, gaining qualifications and experience in Starfleet Operations. His lobbying of various internal departments to provide greater aid to planets in need and to revise Starfleet policies on issues such as the Cardassian Demilitarized Zone may have hampered his career progression somewhat, but he soon became regarded as an expert on medical logistics in high-conflict zones, as well as refugee camps and internally-displaced populations.

In 2372, during a humanitarian assignment on a non-federation planet referred to as Aidoni, a sudden and unexpected coup by anti-government insurgents resulted in Sterek and his fellow personnel being taken hostage. For the next seventeen days he and twelve others were subjected to torture and mistreatment as part of an effort to persuade the Federation to provide their captors with military aid. Following the successful extraction of the nine survivors by Starfleet, Sterek took an extended leave of absence to recover from the ordeal, which was both physically and psychologically damaging.

On his return to the service, he was assigned to an internal Starfleet policy department to advise on humanitarian issues. He has since moved laterally between a number of assignments, and in 2387 was enlisted to help with humanitarian efforts following the destruction of Romulus, where he worked closely with a number of Romulan personnel to assist with the civilian fallout.