Tanek

Pre-Starfleet

The son of respected Immunologists, Tanek spent much of his childhood travelling too and from planets across the Klingon & Romulan borders and the edge of Federation space whilst his parents saved planets. Despite their enthusiasm that Tanek follow in their footsteps it was an engineer on one long journey across the quadrant who noticed the young boy was drawn more to the complex calculations of warp fields than the DNA of diseases. After agreeing to take the boy as an apprentice Tanek became a lucky charm amongst the freight fleet. Eventually transferring to the Auxiliary fleet the young man’s skill with old technology become well known, with ships deviating from their courses just to the famous Tanek could give their engines a good check-up. When he fixed the warp core of the ailing Constitution class vessel USS Golden River during a routine freight convoy it was the vessel’s chief engineer that sponsored his entry to Starfleet Academy and a world of engineering excitement.

Starfleet Academy

Friendly and dependable Tanek was well liked at the academy and quickly earned a reputation for the man in the know when it came to Engineering exams and essays. Becoming fast friends with a group of engineering students who came to call themselves ‘The Chips’, they spent many evenings debating the finer points of Starship construction and design fueled by whiskey in the local bars. As Tanek approached the end of his training he found the concept of taking to the stars with Starfleet a heady promise, unfortunately his excitement and implacable spirit would face one of many difficult struggles, as the year he graduated the Cardassian War began.

Early Career & the Cardassian War

Following the Setlik III massacre and the outbreak of war newly minted Ensigns were quickly deployed into front line vessels as conflicts along the border led to the loss of inexperienced junior crew members. Assigned initially to the Miranda class USS Cammell Laird as an engineer Tanek starkly encountered the cost of war when the ship and crew assigned to provide mobile engineering support along the border. Here the young man witnessed the destruction that conflict leaves behind as he helped civilians repair their homes, rebuild their schools and construct ever expanding memorials. Several years into the conflict the Cammell Laird was the victim of a surprise attack by the Cardassian forces; feinting retreat a wing split off and returned to the small mining base where a followup task force had begun their work. Lightly defended the task force was quickly over-run. Cammell Laird was heavily damaged and though the vessel was saved by the timely return of the original combat force when the task force returned to spacedock for repairs, massive structural damage ended the proud vessels journey.

The crew were transferred, in the majority, to the Excelsior Class USS Yarrow who proudly continued the tradition, providing a more robust and well defended mobile engineering platform throughout the rest of the war.

Post Cardassian War & Dominion War

Tanek continued to serve on the USS Yarrow for man years, not particularly eager or desperate to attain any rank or responsibility he was happy continuing to work keeping the old girl ticking over and as other officers came, went and ascended to greater things the Denobulan became a steadfast part of the vessel. More than one commander left a hand-over note, ‘If Tanek says somethings wrong, believe him.’ Due to his innate knowledge of the aging vessel he found himself heavily involved in the operations team, often serving as a sounding board for the senior engineering staff as to the capabilities of the vessel which lead him to his next career step as the vessels relief Operations Manager. Unfortunately Tanek can’t seem to attain success without the universe going to pot and a few weeks after his promotion the Dominon War began.

For the next two years Yarrow served throughout the conflict, both in a support role and as an active combat vessel, the ships massive engineering teams providing live and ongoing repairs to many deployed forces. It was during Operation return that Tanek’s dear friend and superior was killed during the battle and his battlefield promotion stuck, becoming a member of the vessel’s senior staff through the end of the war, including seeing action over Cardassia itself.

Transfer to Command

Following the Dominion war Yarrow was assigned to provide large scale engineering support to a variety or post-war repair and re-development projects. It was during this time the Denobulan found his skill in leading, friendly, approachable and well-liked by those who worked alongside and under him he led the vessel’s engineering teams to complete projects well beyond what Starfleet thought possible. When the Yarrow was retired from active service in 2380 following almost 100 years of hard work many of the crew waited to see what the friendly and fair Lt.Com. was doing before requesting their next assignment. In the end it was the recommendation of the also retiring Captain that he take on the red collar that led Tanek to the New Orleans Class vessel USS Promise as its new XO.

As part of Starfleets advance engineering response, alongside the Starfleet Corp of Engineers Tanek found himself travelling across the quadrant leading missions to hundreds of exciting & grateful worlds. Each new project providing another memory to add to his wall; filled with simple gifts of thanks from worlds most officers would never hear about let alone visit Tanek found his role of XO a thrilling opportunity to make use of his engineering savvy and his innate compassion for other beings. Unfortunately the spectre of violence continued to haunt Tanek in his new passion with the Promise part of the response fleet following the Synthetic attack on Utopia Planitia and to the Romulan state following the Hobus incident. In each instance Tanek lead his crew through difficult and emotional missions of mercy & aid with quiet confidence and a gentle heart. When the Promise’s captain retired in 2391 he was a natural choice for Starfleet Command.

Transfer to Fourth Fleet

In 2395, with tensions again on the rise at the Cardassian Border and the USS Promise scheduled for a long overdue refit and overhaul Fourth Fleet offered an interesting alternative for Tanek. The fleet’s Taskforce 72 was managing to make a concerted effort along the border and with the fleet in need of experienced & trustworthy captains to provide quick diplomatic responses to the swelling tensions Tanek, and his lifetime of experience with the people of the region was a natural choice. Assigned to the small Rhode-Island vessel USS Daedalus to act as a quick response asset, the captain now acts as engineer, diplomat, courier and friendly face of the Fourth Fleet across the region.

When the Fourth Fleet activated ‘Directive Four’ in response to a rise in Borg activity, Daedalus found itself responding to a severly damaged Sphere that held the survivors of the previously presumed destroyed Unimatrix Zero. During the mission the crew suffered a number of losses including Tanek’s first officer and protege, Dil Khos, along with several of the vessels advanced response team. Despite the successful retrieval of the vesseles vinculum and thus the possible resuce of the memory engrams of the unimatrix Tanek felt personaly responsible for the loss of his friends and colleagues. Severly effected by this loss, Tanek retreated from service for a period of mourning but a few months later was approached by the leadership of Task Force 47 to take command of a newly refitted USS Helios; with the aim of taking the vessel into the Thomar Expanse to secure the politically unstable frontier.