Jacob Hartley

Jacob’s young life was beset by tragedy from the start. His parents were freighter owners, and had run the ship for years. However, less than a week after he was born, Jacob’s parents were killed in an accident which claimed the lives of most of the crew. Thankfully, a Starfleet vessel was nearby, and managed to save five lives, including Jacob. He was sent to Federation Family Services, and was adopted by a retired Intelligence Officer and her husband.

Raised in a strict manner, Jacob, from a young age, showed a natural talent for languages, and spent as much time as he could learning as many as he could. He proved to have an eidetic memory, which helped in his studies. When he was five, his adoptive parents took him to a festival, and he saw masters of the Parkour profession, something which fascinated him.

His life was, mostly, a quiet one. His adoptive parents taught him what his school’s didn’t, and he spent his time training his mind and body. Because of the agility he developed as he studied Parkour, he found martial arts to also be a skill he enjoyed, more for the mental aspect than the strength. He found the discipline of patience, wisdom and understanding to be appealing to him, and his parents were happy for him to learn the skills. His adoptive mother hoped he might follow her footsteps in Intelligence.

In High School, whilst he showed a talent in some subjects, he found others, including mathematics, to be somewhat problematic. He studied with friends, forming a small group that studied together. They were all adept in Parkour, so they trained together as well, finding themselves working well in a unit. They decided to apply to Starfleet at the right time, each wanting to follow a different path but hoping to serve together on the same ship.

When he applied for the Academy, Jacob was accepted and went into the field of Intelligence. His natural aptitude for languages, his high skill level of Parkour and his martial arts ability were an asset as he studied. However, as a student, he showed levels of impatience that his instructors knew would be a hindrance. Because of this, just before his second year at the Academy began, Jacob was given special training. For this training, he was beamed to a small pillar which could just about hold a person standing up, and left there during the day, being beamed away only at night. Whilst this was merely a simulation, Jacob was not aware of that fact, and soon learnt to be patient. After the two weeks were up, Jacob was told it was a simulation, but after his normal classes, he decided to use the program at least twice a week, knowing that patience would serve him very well.

As part of his training, he was told to create at least six alias’s, of different species, which would be used at some point in the future. By creating them early, the records would be in place for years, and thus would appear more natural if they were ever put under scrutiny. This was a challenge Jacob enjoyed, and came up with ten alias’s, including one Klingon, a Romulan, even a Cardassian. Each was carefully inspected, and redone, but by the time Jacob graduated, he was happy with the new profiles. He just didn’t know when he would use them.

Another part of his training included picking at least two hobbies, which would work with his cover identities if necessary. One hobby included studying Kal-Toh, the Vulcan game of logic. He chose this, and chess, to help improve his patience. He also chose to learn to paint – something that failed miserably – so he went with gardening instead, as well as cooking and playing a musical instrument. The cooking was a skill he had learnt from a young age; his adoptive parents enjoyed to cook. He decided to learn how to play the violin – whilst tricky, it provided music that many species enjoyed. It took him three years to properly learn to play the violin, but by the time he graduated, he was already trying to create his own music.

His first assignment was a simple one; he was assigned to Starbase 235 for one year as an analyst. His only assignment there was to coordinate the intelligence reports for the sector, helping the chief to prepare reports and briefings. It was a simple assignment, but it allowed Jacob time to practice his hobbies, for when he would be called upon for field work.

At the age of 24, one year after graduation, Jacob was given his first field assignment. He was sent in, as a Cardassian, to gather intelligence on a potential civil unrest on a Cardassian colony. He spent five months undercover, cementing his alias, until he found the information he had been looking for. There had been no civil unrest, but it was merely a ploy by remnants of the Obsidian Order, hoping to lure others such as the Klingons or Romulans to interfere, as to have an excuse to launch their political attack, showing how Cardassia was being attacked from within and how they needed to do something. After managing to get the information out, Jacob spent another two months undercover, in order to keep his cover intact, in case it was needed again. He had posed as a chef, and learnt a lot of Cardassian dishes whilst undercover.

Upon returning to Starbase 235, Jacob was given Field Agent Status, but remained at the Starbase as a junior agent. He was a gifted analyst, and as such, remained at the base for another two years. He was then given another field assignment, but this time it was a ship based assignment, to the USS Adelphi. Starfleet Intelligence were concerned of a potential leak within Starfleet, selling information to the Orion Syndicate, so they assigned a number of agents to suspected vessels. Jacob spent a year on board the ship, acting as an operations officer, working in linguistics. Towards the end of his time on the ship, the leak was found on the USS Majestic. However, before he left, Jacob was able to discover an undercover spy for the Romulan’s aboard the Adelphi. He ensured the information was given to the right people without blowing his cover. When Jacob left the Adelphi, he was given a promotion to Lt. JG, for his actions.

Jacob was assigned to Starbase 183 as an Intelligence Analyst, and it was here he took up a new hobby; writing. He found a talent for writing, having learnt of so many stories as an analyst. He was able to create works of fiction, but he decided against publishing them. He wanted to keep them for himself as a reminder that there was something he was doing for himself, a mark of who he was.

In 2390, his assignment changed, and he was assigned to the USS Essex as an Intelligence Officer. His service there was a quiet assignment, although he was able to prove his skills on a number of missions for intelligence gathering.

In 2392, he was given a new assignment; ship duty as Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer aboard the USS Triumphant. He was assigned because not only did the ship need more intelligence officers, it was felt his particular skills would be an asset aboard the ship.