Darius Thatch

Darius hails from the northeastern area of the United States on planet earth. He cannot recall the state of his birth, since as a child he moved around often with his single mother. Darius never knew his father, but his mother made up for the lack of a father figure in every way she could. Forced to move from job to job in an effort to provide her son with the best education she could manage, his mother was a slave to his upbringing despite her meager means. When she realized Darius had a knack for working on machinery at a young age, she encouraged him to explore that skill by spending what money she could to purchase anything he could tear apart to see the inner workings. Darius became proficient in fixing broken-down motors and engines, displaying a natural skill for the work.

With little to offer as far as education, his mother scrimped and saved to send him to a school for engineering, but when the time came he refused and instead chose to accept a job at a local mechanic shop. He hated to see the disappointment in his mother’s eyes when he revealed his decision to no longer pursue education, but he could not bear to see her work her fingers raw any longer. Darius took a job to repay his mother for all the years she had invested in him as a child, determined to provide for her as she had for him. With his additional paycheck, he urged his mother to quit her additional jobs, and at the age of eighteen, he became the primary provider for his household.

Darius worked long hours, aging him before his years but also teaching him the value of hard work. With the development of every new callous on his meaty hands, he expanded his mechanical knowledge.

It was a Starfleet officer bringing in a broken-down hovercar that ended up changing Thatch’s fate. The owner of the shop attempted to turn down the job, well aware of the complexity of such a machine and only familiar with typical earth vehicles, but Darius spoke up and claimed he could fix the hovercar. Not at all familiar with hovercars, Darius made the claim with confidence and then determined to make good on his words. Spending long nights in the shop, he tore about the hovercar to see how the unfamiliar machine worked. Pouring over several books that taught how the vehicles used gravity manipulation in order to glide above the ground, in less than a week he had learned all he could from the vehicle. When the car was returned to the Starfleet officer in proper working order, the officer approached the young mechanic about joining the academy to use his skills as a Starfleet officer. It took some convincing, both from the officer who agreed to back his application and his mother, but finally, Darius caved and enrolled in the academy.

Darius was cold and closed off with his fellow students, refusing to socialize but instead dedicating all his time to his studies or picking up side jobs to continue in his efforts to provide for his mother. He had no time for the usual activities of a student, determined only to grow in his career so he could become more financially stable for his mother. He rubbed several of his instructors the wrong way with his blunt and uneducated manners, but he remained a top student due to his commitment to his studies. Upon graduating from the academy, he started out as an engineer aboard the USS Maureen. His mother’s eyes were glowing when he delivered the news, and he was resolute in his commitment to making her proud. His time aboard the USS Maureen was short, however, and he was soon reassigned at the request of his commanding officers.

Darius struggled to submit to authority figures, refusing to keep his viewpoint to himself or sugarcoat his opinion regardless of the rank or title of the person with whom he was conversing. He was loud-mouthed and profane in his denunciation of any action he did not agree with, and so despite his obvious mechanical skill, he was considered largely undesirable by the officers of Starfleet. Skipping frequently from one ship to the next, his mother began to fear a hasty demise in his Starfleet career, but the young engineer finally found a home aboard the USS Effrenus.

The captain of the USS Effrenus was known for his somewhat unorthodox manners, and it was under his tutelage and guiding hand that Darius found friends. The crew of the Effrenus was filled with Starfleet’s castaways, with the captain of the Effrenus making an active effort to turn his ship into one that would be welcoming to those who would not easily fit into the rigorous standards of Starfleet. Darius met several others like him and found the environment of the Effrenus to be far more laid back than his previous assignments. He thrived among his fellow misfits and learned much from the other members of the engineering team. Several of the crewmen were experienced Starfleet officers with many years of service under their belts. Due to the limited positions on the Effrenus and its reputation as the black sheep of Starfleet, it was not uncommon to see someone who had served for many years but was still at a low rank.

Darius could have cared less for rank or title, choosing to instead value others for their achievements rather than their commander’s perception of them. It was several years before the retirement of a few officers opened up the way for Darius to step into the role of Chief Engineer. By that time he had over thirty years of experience and was a skilled Lieutenant Commander. It was in this position that he first met Zenobi Ty, and the two became quite the pair as the bridge crew. Darius and Zenobi became close friends when Darius suffered the loss of his mother, a trying time that Zenobi helped him through.

It was aboard the Effrenus that Darius was finally able to square with the hardships of his past and find comfort in the welcoming home he had come to know. Therefore it came as a shock to the crew when the captain of the Effrenus announced his intention to retire, and Starfleet determined to assign the crew members to new stations rather than giving the Effrenus a new captain. Starfleet command saw it as an opportunity to disperse the crew of the Effrenus among other captains, something which they had been wanting to do since the Effrenus’s reputation had become somewhat of a thorn in their side. So Darius and Zenobi were assigned new positions aboard the USS Tesla under the command of the brand new Captain Savik.