Adir Goodman

Early Life (2371 — 2389)

Adir Goodman was born in Jerusalem in August of 2371 and grew up speaking English, Hebrew, and Arabic in a multi-ethnic home. The son of two physicians, Goodman spent the majority of his early childhood on Earth until his parents accepted positions as civilian specialists working for Starfleet Medical to assist in Romulan Evacuation in 2381. Life in the Federation’s glittering cosmopolitan capital was replaced with cramped quarters in prefabricated housing units located on the makeshift colony worlds Starfleet was setting up to take in refugees when Goodman was just ten years old. Both of his parents were specialists, and so they moved from colony to colony to treat patients with special needs, though they were based on Vashti. Goodman loved getting to see new worlds and meet new people in the process. For the better part of four years, he attended school and made friends with the children of other aid workers as well as Romulan children, learning a good deal of the Romulan language—mostly slang and curse words—along the way. By fourteen, he was already a boisterous and athletic child, though superior Romulan musculature often meant that he was picked last for sports teams.

When Utopia Planitia was destroyed in 2385, the Federation Council halted the rescue efforts. Goodman’s parents wanted to continue their work on the frontier, but they were recalled in early 2386, among the last of the Federation specialists left out there. Now fifteen, Goodman started secondary school back in Israel on Earth, but he knew that he wanted to get back out there. He felt some resentment toward Starfleet about a job left half-finished, but really what he missed were his friends. Beyond that, he could no longer be content on a place like Earth where he’d be stuck with the same scenery all the time. He had wanderlust. In secondary school, Goodman was on multiple athletic teams, but his grades were middling for the first two years until he realized that to join Starfleet, he needed to be excellent, body and mind. He was never a scholar, but he managed through sheer effort to bring his grades up to a point that he could be considered for the Starfleet Academy Preparatory Program in 2387. This was the same year that Romulus was destroyed, which only pushed him harder to want to get back out into space. Goodman passed the Academy entrance examination on his first attempt in 2389, in part thanks to his linguistic talent and knowledge of the Romulan language which impressed his examiner.

Starfleet Academy (2389 — 2393)

When Goodman matriculated into Starfleet Academy in 2389, his career counselor tried to convince him to major in linguistics with an eye towards becoming a communication officer to take advantage of his talent with languages, but Goodman had his sights set on the center seat and not a supporting role. The best way towards captaincy in his mind was through the helm, and so Goodman declared a major in aeronautics.  To appease his advisor, he also took on a minor in xenolinguistics. Goodman stood out in his first year as a leader of his fellow cadets, naturally using his charisma and charm to make group projects go smoothly. Some of his peers saw this as him capitalizing on the talents of others to make up for some of his academic deficiencies but his instructors (mostly) saw this as very officer-like behavior. Goodman initially struggled somewhat with the intensive math and science requirements of his aeronautics program, but he made up for a lack of immediate success through a disciplined and regimented studying program. His fitness regimen was similarly disciplined, and he regularly placed in the top one percent of fitness evaluations, coming in third in the Academy Marathon as a first-year cadet.

Early in his time at the Academy, Goodman developed a reputation for being promiscuous, as the number of “relationships” with members of many species and many genders he had in his first two years alone would have been enough to crew a light cruiser. He shrugged this off by admitting it was true and continuing to enjoy himself; in many ways, it gave him multiple opportunities to develop his charisma which in turn would make him a more effective officer. Apart from athletics and romance, Goodman was also a natural pilot and he excelled in flight training. He was considered for Red Squadron on his piloting talent, but the rest of his academic record left something to be desired. Throughout Goodman’s time at the Academy, there were classes that threatened to pull his academic standards too low to continue, but he always managed to fight his way back into good standing thanks to the help of friends and tutors. By the time he graduated, Goodman was solidly in the middle of the pack.

Early Career (2393 — 2397)

Much of Goodman’s early career in Starfleet relied on him being in the right place at the right time and impressing the right people. His first posting out of the Academy was to Starbase 72 as then-Commodore Thomas Belvedere’s personal staff as his pilot. Belvedere was impressed somewhat by the young man’s proficiency at the helm but more by his personal charisma. After dropping enough hints about his wish to serve on a starship, Belvedere pulled strings to have Goodman promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and assigned as the Flight Control Officer aboard the Parliament-class starship Victoria, then based out of SB72. The next year, Goodman was part of an away team during a second contact mission in the region when rogue Cardassian elements attacked the team. Goodman saved the first officer by pushing him out of the way of a phaser blast and was commended and promoted to full lieutenant in the process.

In 2395, Goodman transferred to the much more prestigious Inquiry-class heavy cruiser Interceptor as Chief Security Officer, having demonstrated his personal courage on Victoria. During this time, Interceptor spent a lot of time on the Romulan border, and Goodman’s linguistic abilities were of regular use on away missions. He was often able to defuse tensions by not using the universal translator with nervous Romulans, and when that didn’t work he was able to get senior officers out of harm’s way effectively. Though he knew the work was important, Goodman regretted accepting a role that took him off of the bridge so often. After two years of excellent service, Goodman was ready to get back behind the helm.

USS Susan B. Anthony (2397 — 2401)

Preternaturally promoted to lieutenant commander thanks to a recommendation from Rear Admiral Belvedere, Goodman became the Chief Flight Control Officer and Second Officer aboard one of the Fourth Fleet’s flagships, the Susan B. Anthony, in 2397. Sovereign-class ships remained a highly sought-after posting for up-and-coming officers, and Goodman relished the opportunity to be at the tip of the spear for Fourth Fleet operations. Initially under Fleet Captain Brett Logan, Goodman participated in several large-scale operations and joined all away teams as Second Officer. Goodman was promoted to commander and executive officer under Captain Paula Camarero in 2400.