John Rosewood

Early Life

John Rosewood’s family line can be traced to the first colonists on Alpha Centauri IV, back in the 22nd century. Their tradition of Starfleet service is almost as old, dating back to the original Earth organisation, and the Rosewoods claim that they have been in every war and on every frontier of humanity’s for the last three hundred years. This has been most lately seen with Commodore Carter Rosewood, veteran of the Dominion War and adviser at the Palais, and John’s father.

As such, young John was born to as much privilege and affluence as the Federation can offer. While he was raised with an expectation of commitment to the Federation’s ideals, service in Starfleet, and personal excellence, this instilled perhaps as much arrogance as sense of responsibility. He assumed a position of authority over his younger siblings and lorded it over them, and strove constantly to secure the approval of his much-worshipped father.

He was sent to the best preparatory school on Alpha Centauri. Exceptionally bright, he breezed through much of his education and so spent plenty of time playing sports and partying with his friends, thoroughly embedded in the social fabric of the school. Despite his drive to join Starfleet, he originally intended on taking a year out after high school to work with a non-government organisation providing humanitarian support to troubled frontier colonies.

Starfleet Academy

The Attack on Mars changed this. John and his classmates watched the catastrophe live on the news from the school hall, transfixed and horrified. The next day, he requested his secured place at Starfleet Academy be brought forward a year, as soon as possible after he left high school.

While he was part of the generation shocked and transformed by the events on Mars, life at the Academy was not that different to high school life. Cadet John Rosewood was perhaps more fixed on his ambition to become a captain some day and shaped his training accordingly, but he still had time for extra-curriculars. He was part of Red Squadron, and in his senior year led its flight team to victory through multiple competition. But he also worked on the Academy newspaper, and in his junior year used his father’s connections to secure an interview with an incoming professor before anyone at the Academy had a chance to know much of them.

Rosewood graduated in the top percentile of his class, with joint honours in Interstellar Relations and Rhetoric, and training as a diplomatic officer. Despite this atypical choice for an officer with command aspirations, Ensign Rosewood quickly made it clear he would use the diplomatic department as a chance to show his mettle in a wide variety of environments.

The Sovereignty of Kahless

His first post was the USS Eisenberg, initially sent to the Klingon border to conduct joint missions and ease diplomatic relations with the growing tensions with the Empire. Rosewood was a Protocol Officer, and quickly made himself useful to his captain by doing quick research and making effective recommendations to help in meetings with Klingon representatives. But in late 2389, the Sovereignty of Kahless invaded an annexed multiple systems in Federation space.

Suddenly, the Eisenberg was on a combat footing – but one where navigating complex Klingon politics was the key to securing support or identifying enemies. Indispensable to his captain, Ensign Rosewood still pushed for more by joining the ship’s Hazard Team and training as a reconnaissance specialist.

In 2390, Rosewood’s guidance on a Klingon commander’s loyalties and code of honour helped his captain convince the enemy to step down rather than fight. In 2391, Operation: Gatecrasher saw Starfleet liberate its annexed territories and destroy the leadership of the Sovereignty, and the Eisenberg’s Hazard Team, with Rosewood among them, saw some of the heaviest fighting experienced by Starfleet officers since the Dominion War. For both forms of service, diplomatic and military, John Rosewood received a commendation and promotion.

With the Sovereignty dealt with, the Klingon border settled towards peace. Rosewood used his achievements and personal connections to seize a more auspicious assignment, and was posted to Starbase 21 as Flag Lieutenant. There he served as aide and diplomatic adviser to Rear Admiral Veldemear, commanding officer of sector forces. With Rosewood’s support, Admiral Veldemear established new treaties and settlements with neighbouring Klingon Houses, and secured stability on this once-fraught border.

Internal Politics

In 2393, Rosewood was advanced to the rank of lieutenant, and moved on from the Klingon border to a diplomatic detachment along the border of the fallen Romulan Neutral Zone. The detachment was not bound to one specific starbase or ship, and was primarily responsible for consular tasks and responding to humanitarian issues. As executive officer, Lieutenant Rosewood was primarily responsible for overseeing administrative and training matters, but within the first year he had grown in confidence. With powerful friends and a strong record under his belt, by 2394 he was taking the lead in key negotiations, much to the chagrin of detachment CO Commander Livesok.

Livesok felt challenged and undermined by his upstart XO, and attempted to rein Rosewood in – only to find himself cut off from key information in their next mission’s first negotiations. When Livesok floundered, Rosewood swept in to save the day. It was wholly deniable that he had sabotaged his CO – Rosewood, when challenged, politely made it plain he was following Livesok’s orders and not over-stepping his bounds. Superiors looked askance at the situation and wondered to what extent Livesok had been over-reliant on an officer significantly his junior, and should have been able to stand on his own two feet even if Rosewood had undermined him.

Deep Space Exploration

Commander Livesok was reassigned soon after, and while Rosewood plainly expected to succeed him, he was deemed too inexperienced. Two years later, however, he received the recognition he’d hoped for with assignment to the USS Lusanka, an explorer embarking on deep space operations, as Chief Diplomatic Officer.

For long stretches of time, the Lusanka was far from Federation space, and Rosewood far from his network of allies and contacts. Those who thought little of him wondered if the young officer would flounder when left with nothing but his wits, only for Rosewood to thrive on missions of exploration. With Rosewood’s guidance and key participation in meetings, the Lusanka’s captain conducted multiple first contacts. In 2398, they hosted negotiations between two warring worlds, and it was Rosewood who made quick and accurate assessments of civilisations they barely knew to guide them to a peace treaty.

Return to the Federation

By mid-2400, Rosewood was flying high. The Lusanka ended her mission with many of her senior staff promoted and moving on, and he deemed it was time to do so, also. He received several offers of executive officer posts, but turned them down. So far, his diplomatic career had been successes in guiding others as an aide, or aboard the Lusanka far from Federation space, and he felt he needed to leave his mark on something future friends, rivals, and enemies would see for years to come.

This brought his attention to the USS Endeavour, primarily charged with diplomatic and support duties along the Romulan Neutral Zone. As the presence of a civilian diplomatic team aboard had made Starfleet disinclined to send their own staff, colleagues and superiors were surprised when Rosewood requested to lead a team there, as surely his role would be redundant. Quickly he made it plain his ambition was to be involved in the high-profile work on the most important border in the Federation, and though he clashed with both Captain Rourke and First Secretary Hale, he proved his worth.

But in early 2401, Endeavour was assigned to a unit under the command of Fleet Captain Lionel Jericho, a hawkish rival of Rosewood’s father. Jericho moved diplomatic operations to his ship, the Triumph, and tried to get Rosewood reassigned elsewhere. Only by manoeuvring of Captain Rourke was he kept in the squadron, the two men colluding to build their own political base unaligned to Jericho, and so Rosewood accepted a new, rather inauspicious role: executive officer of the USS Independence, a Diligent-class in the squadron.

She is a small frigate that takes on support roles of other ships or minor operations where it would be considered wasteful to deploy the likes of Endeavour or the Triumph, under a young commander of great promise whose inexperience he can hardly temper. But despite all his ambition, John Rosewood believes in using diplomacy, not might, to resolve the fraught challenges of this border – and there is no political animal in the squadron more capable than him.