Bib

Life before Starfleet

On the wall of a hard-working family, proud to have been a pillar of their community for over 500 years, is a picture. Hastily taken in the depths of a snow storm it is blurry round the edges and would have been dismissed anywhere else as a bad shot. It depicts a young Andorian boy, with a grin that almost reaches his antenna, waiting to hand his father a hypospanner as they attempt to repair a particularly difficult air recycler. Pride of place on his parent’s wall is a pictorial timeline of Bib’s achievements; his first championship cup, the ice-cutter he volunteered on as a teen, his graduating picture from the Andorian Imperial War College and finally his first pip as an Ensign in Starfleet.

Bib came from a proud family with a history of hard work and community leadership, a favourite motto of his father now travelled throughout the galaxy in Bib, ‘Lift up your neighbour so they may lift another later’. Located in a remote town an attitude of self-sufficient, make do and mend came with Bib into his adult life and served him well in his studies in the Andorian War College, where he became well known amongst cadets for discrete and effective repairs of both official and unofficial belongings. He graduated with honours and was strongly encouraged by his mentors to join Starfleet and put his skills to good use.

Starfleet Academy

Practically, taking a conversion course in the form of Officer school was mostly a formality for Bib. Designed to teach the essentials of Starship operations and the basic procedures of Starfleet, much of this was already part of his education on Andoria. His time  in San Fransisco was one of the most eye-opening years of Bib’s life; he knew of alien species, and had met off-worlders during his time in the War College but to see so many species working together in one place was a wonder. Bib dived head-long into his extra curricular studies and became proficient in several additional languages, ranked highly in the annual Tellerite dominated Academy debate and placed 3^rd in the 2384 Academy ballroom competition. As Starfleet continued to feed his thirst and he prepared to graduate, hopeful of his next adventure, disaster struck. The assault on Utopia Planitia robbed many people of their futures, both actual and envisioned. The attack shook Bib, who lost many friends newly deploying onto rescue ships in orbit of Mars; unable to reconcile his feelings about the attack the young Andorian retreated to his homestead for a year, reminding himself the importance of lifting up others.

Service about U.S.S. Seoul

The following year Bib returned to service in Starfleet, his renewed desire to serve the greater good leading him to an assignment on the New Orleans class, U.S.S. Seoul. Combining his military training with his engineering know-how he found a niche place deep within the vessel alongside his security & engineering colleagues in the armoury and weapons bay. Applying his voracious appetite for knowledge to the ship Bib became a valuable member of the team maintaining the aging vessel’s complicated tactical systems, whilst alongside researching ways to improve the systems with materials already present and easily available onboard. With some encouragement from the Chief Engineer he submitted several plans to Starfleet Command that fed into the development of new weapons research. It was these papers that caught the attention of officers in Starfleet Security who recruited Bib into service across the Alpha quadrant, his penchant for on the ground lateral thinking and an intricate understanding of weapons systems serving him well.

Service in Starfleet Security

Though he can’t speak much about it generally Bib he has finally found his place, working alongside like minded individuals, like Maine and T’Sal, to guard the Federation from dangers it didn’t even realise were present. Each mission is an opportunity for Bib to learn a new skill or a discover a new way of doing things, combined with his realistic and self-sufficient attitude he has found himself a valuable part of Starfleet & the Federations defence. His only regret? He wishes he could tell his parents about how many people he’s been able to lift up.