 Ŀ
                    The Star Trek LogBook REFERENCE FILES                    
 
                         written/compiled by Earl Green
                       ----------------------------------
* = new material in this edition            @ = no material available on subject
                               # = all new entry!

Subjects covered in this file:
     BAJOR / DEEP SPACE 9     KLINGON EMPIRE             @ SULU, Hikaru
     BASHIR, Julian           LA FORGE, Geordi             TROI, Deanna
     BORG                   @ McCOY, Leonard H.          @ UHURA
     CARDASSIAN UNION       # MORN!                        VULCAN
   @ CHEKOV, Pavel A.         O' BRIEN, Miles E.         * WORF
     CRUSHER, Beverly         ODO                          YAR, Natasha
     CRUSHER, Wesley          PICARD, Jean-Luc
     CYTHERIANS               QUARK
     DATA                   * RIKER, William T.
     DAX, Jadzia              RO, Laren
     FERENGI ALLIANCE         ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE
   # GAMMA QUADRANT           SCOTT, Montgomery
     GUINAN                   SISKO, Benjamin
     KIRA, Nerys            @ SISKO, Jake
     KIRK, James T.           SPOCK


Ŀ
 BAJOR / DEEP SPACE 9 -  sociopolitical overview  (DSN)       updated Nov. 93 

   The planet Bajor, once home to a proud, thriving culture, was invaded by the
Cardassians, with whom the Federation had once waged a bloody war.  The peaceful
Bajora were enslaved by the Cardassians, who strip-mined the planet to the
dregs.  However, the invaders underestimated the Bajora.  As primitive as they
may have seemed compared to the Cardassians or the Federation's more advanced
members, the Bajora still had their pride and offered a stubborn resistance to
the Cardassian oppressors, waging guerilla warfare to regain their own
territory over decades of occupation (this figure fluctuates between 40 and 60
years).  Those who could escape set up refugee camps on other planets (such as
the Valo II camp seen in the "Ensign Ro" segment of "Next Generation"), as the
Bajoran Army's ranks launched terrorist attacks on the Cardassians using
whatever means they had at their disposal.  Some of the most violent attacks
were carried out by the Kohn-Ma, a radical resistance movement whose ranks have
included Tahna Los ("Past Prologue") and Major Kira Nerys.  Among the greatest
heroes of the Bajoran resistance included Li Nalas, who, as legend would have
it, once killed Gul Zarale with his bare hands and went on to lead further
critical victories against the Cardassians until his capture and presumed death.
(Li was eventually rescued by Major Kira in "The Homecoming" and admitted to
Sisko that his "victory" over Gul Zarale was just a fortunate happenstance, and
that most of the later heroics attributed to Li's brilliance seldom had anything
to do with him.)
   Though some Bajora have chosen to join Starfleet, Bajor has never joined the
Federation proper, and this has resulted in strained relationships.  During one
incident engineered by the Cardassians and a Cardassian sympathizer within the
ranks of Starfleet, a terrorist attack was committed by the Cardassians against
the Federation's Solarian IV outpost and attributed to the Bajorans, who were
admittedly unhappy that the Federation, worried about engaging the Cardassians
in another full-scale war, refused to intervene when Bajor was occupied four
decades earlier.  The conspiracy, however, was discovered and thwarted by the
crew of the starship Enterprise (with the help of new Bajoran crewmember Ensign
Ro Laren), but it did not make any progress toward easing Federation-Bajoran
relations.  Many Federation diplomats are simply embarassed about the Bajoran
situation, since help has often been promised, but never given.
   The Bajora, though their efforts were dilligent, failed to do anything but
annoy the Cardassians.  The natural resources of the planet Bajor had been, for
the most part, taken; the only continuing activity the Cardassians expected to
find at Bajor was terrorist activity.  Moving on to more practical and strategic
matters including an attempted incursion at Minos Korva (TNG episode "Chain of
Command" parts I & II), the Cardassians left Bajor to its original inhabitants
and abandoned the sector.  They also left behind the enormous space station they
called Terok Nor (redesignated Deep Space 9 by the Federation), built eighteen
years before by Bajoran slave laborers under the Cardassian whip, a dilapidated
city in space populated by any number of seedy characters with a good deal of
the on-board profit-making opportunities monopolized by the Ferengi.  The
Bajora took over the station, but their seeming victory was soon outshadowed by
the decision of the newly established Bajoran provisional government to invite
the Federation to move a crew in to take over Deep Space 9.  Some in the ranks
of the Bajoran freedom fighters were enraged by this development, feeling that
the Federation had played it far too safe; some even contemplated the Federation
crew as a new target for terrorism.  And many of Deep Space 9's residents and
visitors were unhappy with the prospect of the Federation moving in to clean up
the neighborhood and imposing its own idea of law and order upon the station's
activities (which many members of the outpost's underworld - including the
Ferengi - regarded as quite satisfactory).
   Once the Starfleet team arrived and took over, trouble began almost instantly
as they encountered hostility or trepidation from the Bajora and from the many
station-dwellers, and renewed interest from the Cardassians in taking Bajor back
for themselves after having failed to invade Minos Korva.  And then, a
scientific impossibility happened near Bajor - a stable wormhole opened,
offering a safe gateway to areas of the galaxy between 70,000 and 90,000 light
years away - a travel distance previously thought unreachable within most
beings' lifetimes.  (In "Emissary," Sisko remarks that the gamma quadrant is
"over 70,000 light years from Bajor"; when Tosk's ship arrives in "Captive
Pursuit," Sisko informs him that he has traveled "nearly 90,000 light years.")
Bajor was once again a strategic hot spot, and the Cardassians, among others,
saw the wormhole as an unparalleled new opportunity for conquest or profit.  But
the Starfleet officers manning Deep Space 9 meant to control the traffic at the
Bajoran wormhole equitably, and the station was quickly moved to stand guard in
front of the wormhole.  The possibility always exists of emergence of beings
from that other end of the galaxy through the wormhole - civilizations, both
friendly and otherwise, encountering the Federation for the first time.  Science
expeditions to the Gamma Quadrant are staged frequently, launching from Deep
Space 9.
   Bajoran spiritual matters are intricately intertwined with their politics;
the highest "rank" being that of Kai, supported by an assembly of lower-ranking
representatives (Vedeks) of the various Bajoran religious orders.  A Chamber of
Ministers is also present, though where it fits into the pecking order of the
provisional government is unknown.  The rescued Li Nalas was appointed a Navarch
upon his return to Bajor; though the status of that title is unknown in relation
to Vedek, he remarks that there had never been such a title before his return,
and the Chamber of Ministers invented a new one to befit Li's legendary status
("The Homecoming").  Bajoran religions have been described as being both
orthodox and unorthodox, and there are probably other flavors as well, including
an extremist organization which mingles religion and politics, known as the
Alliance for Global Unity - or, less formally, the Circle.  Their aim is to
expel all "inferior" non-Bajorans from Bajor and its territories.  In the wake
of the apparent loss of Kai Opaka during her single fateful trip through the
wormhole ("Battle Lines"), the race is apparently on among members of the
assembly to take her place.  Presumably, considering how much importance is
placed on the position of the Kai and considering that some of the Vedeks are
not beyond the point of concocting elaborate assassination schemes to gain the
power for themselves or at least keep it out of the hands of others ("In the
Hands of the Prophets"), a Kai probably has some influence over many of the
various orders.


Ŀ
 BASHIR, JULIAN  -  biographical profile  (DSN)               updated Nov. 93 

   Bashir is a recent graduate of Starfleet Academy and medical school.  His
father was a Federation diplomat, and after he helplessly sat by and watch an
Ivernian child die of an easily curable illness, he gave up his previous
ambition - to become a tennis player - and took up medicine.  He graduated
second in his class (in his final exam, his mistook a pre-ganglionic fiber for a
post-ganglionic nerve), and thus was given his choice of any posting in the
entire Federation.  He chose to serve aboard Deep Space 9 because the station is
a new, untamed wilderness, and he believes there's an opportunity in such an
environment for him to become a hero.  However, the conditions aboard the
outpost aren't exactly the same as in the Academy's facilites, and the patients
he is charged with are as different from the Academy simulations as they can be.
He is somewhat disappointed with how his "choice assignment" turns out, but he
doesn't have time to mull that over; he'll be too busy keeping up with what
duties he does have, and meeting with the approval of Sisko, who occasionally
gets impatient with someone who seems to think that a Starfleet assignment
should be a picnic.  Dr. Bashir, however, won't miss a chance to involve himself
in an adventure, and has proven himself capable of doing his duty with a bit of
sometimes unnecessary bravado ("Dax," "The Siege").  Among his noteworthy
accomplishments in his med school years was the creation of a candy bar whose
nutritional value surpassed that of standard Starfleet combat rations ("The
Siege").


Ŀ
 BORG  -  sociopolitical overview  (TNG/DSN)                  updated Nov. 93 

   Another race which has made a mark on the crew of the Enterprise-D has only
been encountered twice in force, but those two encounters left the impression
that the Borg are indestructible.  A collective bio-mechanical race of beings
who augment their organic bodies with cybernetic implants at birth, the Borg
travel around and beyond the outskirts of Federation space in colossal
cube-shaped vessels which, inside and out, are layered with technologies
wrested from the grips of civilizations which have fallen victim to the Borg's
might.  The Borg, not seen until "Q Who" in the latter half of the second
season, were hinted at in "The Neutral Zone" as the Romulans and Federation
officers assessed the catastrophic damage to their Neutral Zone border
outposts.  The Borg, according to Guinan, raped her home world for its
technological resources and raw materials and scattered her people - who have
yet to be identified - across the galaxy.  In their second appearance in the
season finale of the third season and the premiere episode of the fourth
season, the Borg had since placed a value on organic life, in particular, the
member races of the Federation.  In seeking to find a race of "drones" to
service its race of mobile "workers," the Borg kidnapped Captain Picard and
converted him, both physically and mentally, into their "queen bee."  Picard
was rescued by the Enterprise crew and restored to his full health, and the
Borg ship attempting to subjugate Earth was destroyed.
   In seventh season's "Parallels," in which Worf is accidentally shifted into
several alternate realities involving the Enterprise, he encounters a parallel
universe where Picard died in the Borg assault on Earth.  Later in the same
episode, it is revealed that there is a parallel reality in which the Borg
destroyed the Federation; the Enterprise from that splinter of causality would
appear to be manned by a handful of desperate survivors, including Worf and
Riker.
   Alternate realities aside, no trace of the Borg was heard again until "I,
Borg" late in the fifth season, in which a downed Borg scout ship (not actually
seen, but presumably a smaller cubical vessel) was detected by the Enterprise,
and an adolescent male Borg was the only survivor.  Dubbed "Hugh," this lone
Borg was taken aboard the Enterprise, and Picard initially planned to send him
back to the Borg collective with an unsolvable problem programmed into his
brain, which would confuse the Borg into self-destruction.  But when the crew
managed to restore some semblance of self-awareness and vestiges of Hugh's
emotions resurfaced, Picard decided to send Hugh back to the Borg collective
unharmed, hoping that the individuality within Hugh's mind would be downloaded
into the Borg hive-mind and become widespread, collapsing Borg society into
anarchy.  Hugh was retrieved by the Borg, and his reintegration into the
collective spread individuality throughout the Borg.  The discord brought upon
the Borg, who had never had to deal with management of ideas or personalities,
almost laid waste to the collective.
   Lore, having stolen an emotions enhancement created by Dr. Noonian Soong for
Soong's other android, Data, encountered the decaying Borg and offered them the
opportunity to lose all reliance on organic components and become one again,
pronouncing himself an almost messianic leader.  This sudden demand to rely on
an unfounded, unproven faith in a single individual confused the Borg even more,
and some split off from Lore's new breed of Borg in mistrust after some of the
android's experiments to enhance Borg went horribly wrong.  Among these
dissenting individuals was Hugh himself.
   Lore, with a sizeable faction of Borg under his control, lured the Enterprise
into a trap by staging new Borg attacks on various outposts.  By transmitting
selected commands from Data's emotions enhancement to Data via modified Borg,
Lore forced Data to experience his first emotion - a hateful anger - and gained
enough control of Data to wrest him away from the Enterprise.  After a pitch
battle with Lore's Borg followers, Hugh and the other Borg, with a newfound
self-determination, are forging ahead much more peacefully than the Borg of old.
It is unknown if a Borg collective actually still exists or if the recovery of
Hugh meant the end of that threat.


Ŀ
 CARDASSIAN UNION  -  sociopolitical overview  (TNG/DSN)      updated Oct. 93 

   Introduced in "The Wounded," in TNG's fourth season, the Cardassian Union was
once at war with the Federation, a war which apparently was in progress in one
form or another through the third season of "Next Generation," since their debut
episode "The Wounded" says that a treaty had only finally been reached a year
and a half earlier than the incident involving the USS Phoenix.  The Cardassians
are vicious adversaries.  Captain Picard stated that, during his command of the
Stargazer, he once actually had to escape from Cardassian attackers.  Chief O'
Brien also experienced the murderous mentality of the Cardassians during the
same long conflict when he served on the starship Rutledge with Captain Maxwell,
a starship captain whose entire family was murdered by Cardassians.  It has also
been said that debates over the Federation's position against the Cardassians
created a rift between two of Vulcan's most famous representatives, Sarek and
Spock.  On the trivial side, Starfleet Captain Edward Jellico was later said to
have been one of the key players in the Cardassian treaty.
   In "The Wounded," Captain Maxwell, now commanding the Phoenix, attacks
several Cardassian ships, which the Cardassians claimed were scientific supply
vessels.  Maxwell - and later, Picard - realize that the Cardassian traffic was
very likely a clandestine attempt to prepare for another strike on the
Federation.  While Picard had to remain neutral and capture Maxwell for his
actions, he warned Cardassian Gul Macet that the Federation would monitor border
activity more closely in the future.  In the fifth season's "Ensign Ro," the
Cardassians actually had a Federation cohort, Admiral Kennelly, who almost
assisted them in doing away with the nomadic remnants of the Bajora, whom the
Cardassians had evicted from their own territory and were now fighting back in a
nearly insignificant spree of terrorist attacks.  The Cardassians employed slave
labor on captured worlds and on their own planets as well (the Galatepp mining
camp on Bajor resulted in hundreds of grisly Bajoran deaths under Gul Darhe'el,
while a labor camp was still operating on Cardassia IV as recently as the DSN
second season episode "The Homecoming").
   In that same segment, Ensign Ro recounts to Picard the tale of how, when she
was seven years old, she was forced to watch her father tortured to death by
Cardassians.  Picard later gains first-hand knowledge of the savagery of the
Cardassians in the two-part "Chain of Command" story in the sixth season.
Ousted from command of the Enterprise by order of Starfleet to lead a covert
mission to Celtris III, Picard's mission was ostensibly to gather intelligence
on the possibility of Cardassian development of metagenic weapons which would
genetically destroy entire ecosystems and leave developed planets uninhabited
for Cardassian conquerors.  Captured by Gul Madred, Picard was subjected to a
variety of physical and psychological torture technicques, among them truth
serums, dehydration, and surgical implants connected to remote control devices
that allow the interrogator to inflict pain at varying intensity.  In "Chain of
Command," mention is also made of the Seldonis IV Convention, an agreement which
Picard mentions as expressly forbidding the torture of prisoners of war, and the
Solatis Convention, which apparently covers some of the same ground since Riker
tries to cite it to Gul Lemec in an attempt to recover the captured Picard (and
which the Cardassians neatly and cunningly sidestepp by rationalizing that,
since the Federation would not admit that Picard's mission to Celtris III was
undertaken by direct order, Picard's actions were not part of a formal action by
the Federation against Cardassia, therefore they could do what they wish with
the prisoner).  The Seldonis IV and Solatis Conventions may be part of the
Federation-Cardassian armistice.
   Little is known of the structure of the Cardassian Militia, except for the
ranks "Gul" (apparently analogous to captain) and "Glinn" (a lieutenant rank of
some sort).  Gul Madred mentions that the Cardassians, long before their contact
with the Federation, were cultured, peaceful, spiritual people, though poverty
led the Cardassian government to believe that the only escape from their
society's plight was to stir up the people in a violent exodus from their home
world to conquer other planets and other societies - some of which were once,
like the Cardassians, cultured, peaceful and spiritual people - and all of which
were reduced to poverty and slavery, much like the now-comfortable Cardassians
once endured under their own elitist dictatorship.  Slave laborers constructed
the Cardassian Union's fleet, luxurious accomodations on the worlds conquered by
the Cardassians, and enormous space stations such as Deep Space Nine over Bajor.
At the beginning of "Chain of Command" part I, the Cardassians are mentioned as
having recently withdrawn from the Bajoran sector, leaving the mining station
Terok Nor open for Starfleet takeover as the Federation begins trying to assist
the Bajora in rebuilding their society.  And with the discovery of the wormhome
near Bajor, the Cardassians are understandably interested in trying to regain
their foothold in that area of space, including backing a Bajoran extremist
group known as the Circle who wanted to evict the Federation from Bajoran space.
The moment the Federation officially left, however, would have marked the
beginning of the second Cardassian occupation of Bajor.  The membership of the
Circle did not even realize the Cardassian involvement in their attempted coup
d'etat due to the Cardassians' utilization of Kressari "middle men" ("The
Circle").


Ŀ
 CHEKOV, PAVEL A.  -  biographical profile  (TOS)                 unavailable 



Ŀ
 CRUSHER, BEVERLY  -  biographical profile  (TNG)             updated Sep. 93 

   Dr. Crusher's intermittent tenure on the Enterprise has given her the chance
to treat some unusual cases, ranging from removing Borg implants from Captain
Picard to being one of the first Federation medics ever to treat a Romulan
patient ("The Enemy" and "The Defector"), watching the unique evolution of the
mutating John Doe ("Transfigurations"), being trapped in a warp bubble
("Remember Me"), helping to deliver a giant spaceborne creature's young
("Galaxy's Child"), discovering that a visitng ambassador with whom she was in
love was actually a parasite inside a humanoid host body ("The Host"), helping
experimental physician Dr. Russell replace Worf's injured spinal cord, being
the first to notice that the Enterprise was caught in a time loop ("Cause and
Effect"), restoring an adolescent Borg drone to full health ("I, Borg"), and
many other unique opportunities.  She also tagged along with Picard and Worf on
a top-secret mission into Cardassian space, her function to determine whether or
not the Cardassians were readying biological weapons, and more recently was
given command of the Enterprise by Captain Picard during a Borg crisis involving
Data and Lore.  Probably to her own surprise, "Captain" Crusher's reign saw the
Enterprise outrun a Borg vessel at least twice, and then used the energy of a
nearby sun to destroy the same Borg ship shortly thereafter!  More interesting
cases, as always, undoubtedly lie ahead for the good doctor...
   Another important duty of Beverly's, until recently, was looking after her
son Wesley.  Although he seemed to be a nuisance at first, Wes displayed an
amazing ability with the Enterprise's technology and was soon given an honorary
rank.  Crusher's husband, Jack, lost his life while serving as Picard's first
officer on the USS Stargazer.  No specifics have been given on that incident,
but it was stated by Wesley ("Coming of Age") that Jack's death was the result
of Picard making a command decision to save another officer instead of Crusher
during some sort of crisis.  (Jack did appear in Beverly's "nightmare" sequence
in "Violations," as the doctor recalled a younger Picard accompanying her to
the morgue.  Jack's body seemed intact except for a very large scar or welt
across his forehead; the rest of the corpse was not shown.)  Picard was
initially disturbed by the prospect of Beverly and her son both coming aboard,
but all parties seem to have overcome that trepidation over the years.
   Very little of Dr. Crusher's background is known, aside from the fact that
Jack Crusher was introduced to her by Walker Keel (a friend of Picard's from
Starfleet Academy), and that Jack proposed to her before she even graduated
from medical school.  Further back than that in her history, Beverly was - most
likely as a child - part of a colony on Alveda III, which Picard referred to as
a tragedy ("The Arsenal of Freedom").  When medical supplies at the failed
colony (exactly what happened there has never been specified) were exhausted,
young Beverly was taught how to treat injuries with the native roots and herbs
by her grandmother, who was also a member of the colony.  Unless Beverly's
background is explored further, it would be reasonable to assume that she
became interested in medicine at that early age.  Exobotany continues to be at
least a hobby of hers ("Clues," "Cause and Effect").  She once dyed her hair
brunette as a teenager, and claims she "couldn't change it back fast enough."
   In the sixth season's "Suspicions," Beverly's devotion to scientific truth
almost got her killed.  Assembling some of the brightest warp field specialists
in the galaxy to listen to Ferengi scientist Reyga's claim that he had perfected
a subspace shielding system, she soon discovered that competition and even
jealousy pervaded the scientists, to the point that one of them murdered Reyga
with an eye on claiming his shield system.  Beverly managed to solve the
mystery, however, and proved Reyga's invention successful by flying a shuttle
armed with his shield into the corona of a nearby star while simultaneously
fending off the murderer, who had stowed away.  The danger did not keep her from
using her mind, however, and she utilized some aspects of Reyga's technology to
hide the Enterprise at a precarious proximity to a star from a pursuing Borg
ship ("Descent" part II).


Ŀ
 CRUSHER, WESLEY  -  biographical profile                      updated May 92 

   Wesley, who first joined the Enterprise crew along with his mother at the
age of fifteen, is the son of Dr. Beverly Crusher and the late Jack Crusher,
Picard's first officer on the USS Stargazer until a still unspecified command
decision on Picard's part led Jack Crusher to his death, which occurred while
Wes was still a very young child.  Displaying a remarkable talent with warp
engines, computers, and many other items, Wes quickly endeared himself to the
crew - and, in other cases, proved to be a nuisance.  Seeing how much damage
could be done by Wesley if he was out to make mischief ("The Naked Now"),
Picard probably decided to ensure the teenager was on his side by making him
an Acting Ensign ("Where No One Has Gone Before") after Wesley assisted and
supported the alien Traveler whom no one else seemed to trust when a he
accidentally sent the Enterprise to the edge of the universe while distracted
by Wesley's intuitive knowledge of the ship's workings.
   Some fans and viewers complained that Wes saved the Enterprise too often in
the first season, which led to his transfer to the helm of the ship in the
second season although his mother had been reassigned to Starfleet Medical for
a year.  Wesley got Dr. Crusher's permission to remain on the Enterprise.  She
returned in the third season opener "Evolution," precisely at the same time a
school experiment of Wesley's nearly caused the crew to abort a one-of-a-kind
scientific mission and could have even gone on to destroy the ship, although he
was not reprimanded for this at all - indeed, he created an entire new race of
intelligent, microscopic beings from tiny robots intended for medical use.  He
was finally admitted to Starfleet Academy ("Final Mission") and it was stated
that he had a lot of catching up to do, although he would receive credit for
his service on the Enterprise.  Actually, Wesley had either given up or missed
earlier opportunities to go to the Academy in "Coming of Age" and "Menage a
Troi."  He returned - on vacation from the Academy - in the fifth season story
"The Game," in which he failed to save the ship...but was able to reactivate
Data, who saved the ship just in time.  Wesley was later seen at the Academy on
Earth in a later season five episode, "First Duty," recovering from an accident
in-flight during a practice maneuver with the Academy's elite flight group, the
Nova Squadron.  Squadron leader, upper classman Nicholas Locarno, had planned
on the team executing a fancy but extremely risky stunt maneuver during the
Academy's commencement ceremonies to impress fellow cadets and Starfleet's top
brass alike, but the attempted stunt resulted in the destruction of Nova
Squadron's five space-planes and the death of one cadet, a friend of Wesley's.
Wes almost followed Locarno, lying all the way through an Academy investigation
into the accident, but Picard convinced him to tell the truth.  Pressured by
Locarno and the other cadets to continue with the cover-up (which would have
resulted only in an official reprimand on each cadet's record), Wes revealed
the truth.  Wesley's credits for his entire first year at the Academy were
revoked, but Locarno proved he wasn't entirely indecent by taking most of the
responsibility for the accident and for the other cadets' behavior.  Locarno
was expelled, but Wes, with something less of the squeaky clean reputation he
once had and with his flight priveleges revoked, continues his training at
Starfleet Academy.


Ŀ
 CYHTERIANS  -  first contact briefing  (TOS?/TNG)            updated Oct. 91 

   An interesting, if incidental, addition to the roster of "Next Generation"
aliens was the appearance of a Cytherian in the fourth season episode "The Nth
Degree."  The Cytherian appeared on the bridge through something not unlike a
hologram of just a bearded head.  A Cytherian probe had altered the mind of
engineering specialist Barclay and given him the knowledge to take the crew to
the center of the galaxy - where, in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," Captain
Kirk and the crew of the NCC-1701-A encountered a similar projection of a far
less benevolent being intent on taking over the Enterprise and traveling back to
Federation space in the guise of God.  No one has said for certain wether the
godlike being in "Star Trek V" could have been another Cytherian or not, but the
possibility is intriguing and would be another link of continuity between the
two generations of "Star Trek."


Ŀ
 DATA  -  biographical profile  (TNG)                         updated Nov. 93 

   Although one of two androids successfully constructed by Dr. Noonian Soong,
a rogue cyberneticist who took refuge among colonists on Omicron Theta to
continue his research in secrecy, Data is the only android ever to serve in
Starfleet.  Data has proven to be a vital member of the Enterprise crew from
the start, and has been saving the crew's lives since the second episode of the
entire series - indeed, had Data been transferred to another ship or destroyed
at any point, the Enterprise would have almost certainly succumbed to some kind
of enemy threat or natural disaster about five episodes later!
   Data's existence as an android has brought mistrust from humans ("Angel One,"
"Redemption II," "Silicon Avatar" and others), and his computerized nature also
means that he can be deactivated or even taken over by anyone with the proper
skills ("The Schizoid Man," "Contagion," "Brothers," "The Game," "Conundrum" and
"Power Play," just to name a few).  But his agility, strength and inability to
fall victim to many techniques used to render organic beings unconscious or
disoriented has also allowed Data to save the Enterprise (as in "The Naked Now"
and "Night Terrors"), entire planets ("The Ensigns of Command") and even the
entire Federation and civilization as we know it ("The Best of Both Worlds").
(In a very early draft, the Borg in "The Best of Both Worlds" were to have taken
Data as well as Picard - but fortunately for the Federation and civilization as
we know it, the story was revised.)  It is interesting to notice, however, that
even Data was not immune to being kidnapped and experimented upon by aliens and
recalling none of the incident ("Schisms").
   Two of the most potentially intriguing facets of Data's character have been
examined several times over the series' run: his rights as a machine-being and
his inability to feel or even successfully emulate human emotions.  "The
Measure of a Man," "The Schizoid Man" and "The Offspring" focused on whether
living organic beings' rights take precedence over those of an android, while
such stories as "The Most Toys" and "Legacy" showed humans with malicious
intent taking advantage of Data's inability to feel anger or mistrust (although
he appears to have learned to analyze situations more extensively by the time
Sela tries to take advantage of the same traits in "Redemption II").  A few
other shows, such as "Data's Day," show a more light-hearted side to Data's
unique outlook on his surroundings.  In the first part of sixth season's
"Birthright" story, Data discovers, as a result of an accident during an
experiment on a piece of alien equipment conducted with Geordi and Dr. Julian
Bashir, that he was equipped with the ability to "dream" by his creator, Noonian
Soong.  Perplexingly, however, Data stumbled across this programmed ability far
earlier than Soong had expected him to discover it, and is not fully aware of
what other abilities may have been given to him.  A chip prepared by Soong which
would supposedly give Data the full gamut of emotions was stolen by Soong's
original prototype android, Lore, Data's identical twin "brother."  Lore then
mortally injured Soong and left, later to encounter the Borg and make malicious
use of several of Soong's secret innovations, such as the emotions chip and a
homing routine override in his and Data's programming, in the sixth season's
"Descent."
   Data's head - badly damaged - was found on Earth in caverns beneath
Starfleet Academy in San Francisco during an archaeological dig, along with
other items, including a pocketwatch and a Colt pistol.  All of those artifacts
had been buried there since the late 1800s, though no trace of Data's body
could be found.  Also discovered in the excavation were traces of alien
organisms that Geordi traced back to a distant planet.  The Enterprise visited
the planet, and in the course of investigating invisible life-forms there who
had apparently constructed a gateway through time, Data was sucked back into
19th-century San Francisco, where he immediately began trying to continue his
investigation of probable alien interference in human history.  It turned out
that an encounter with the aliens resulted in an energy surge which blew his
head off, while the away team from the Enterprise that followed him into the
past took his body back to the future with them and reconnected the head,
repaired, with his body, restoring him to full function.
   During an encounter with an inexplicably emotionally aware group of Borg,
Data seemed to feel his first emotion, that of anger, followed by a feeling of
satisfaction and even enthusiasm when he killed one of the Borg drones in the
ambush.  A Borg drone captured during a boarding attempt on the Enterprise then
managed to compel Data to take him back to the Borg headquarters, where the
"new" breed of Borg were discovered to actually be under the control and
influence of Lore, who constructed the entire plan simply to gain control of
Data.
   Data more recently made a shocking discovery - that he and Lore were not the
only Soong-type androids in existence.  Dr. Juliana Tainer visited the
Enterprise (seventh season's "Inheritance") as part of a mission to salvage a
dying planet, and revealed herself to be the ex-wife of Dr. Soong and co-creator
of Data and Lore, along with at least three or four other androids which failed
and had to be dismantled.  Dr. Tainer herself turned out to be an android of a
much more sophisticated type than Data, a replica of Soong's actual ex-wife who
was killed when the Crystalline Entity attacked the colony on Omicron Theta.
Tainer was programmed not only to feel emotions and emulate her namesake's
personality, but she also had no idea that she was anything but human.  Data
found a message recorded by Dr. Soong, pleading that Dr. Tainer be spared the
revelation of her true nature, a request with which Data complied.


Ŀ
 DAX, JADZIA  -  biographical profiles  (DSN)                 updated Nov. 93 

   Dax is a Trill, a race first seen in the "Next Generation" fourth season
episode "The Host," a member of a race of parasites who coexist symbiotically
with voluntary humanoid host bodies.  As demonstrated by Trillian ambassador
Odan in "The Host," periodic treatments administered by a small hand-held energy
device are required to stabilize the host body, and Trills cannot use the
transporters because the disassembly process would damage the parasitic half of
the being (her use of the station's transporter in "Emissary" could be chalked
up to the power of the Orb that carried her from the wormhole).  The actual
physical form of the Trill parasite is a greenish-grey mollusk-like being with
an oily, semi-hard shell and a tail that appears to end in a "stinger."  Dax has
been acquainted with Captain Sisko for a long time.  In fact, Sisko once knew
Dax when Dax occupied the form of an elderly man known as Curzon; the Trill
custom is for the joined being to use the host's first name and the symbiont's
last name, thus her former body was known to Sisko as Curzon Dax.  Though Dax
may have appeared elderly at that time, he got into plenty of mischief with
Sisko when the commander was in his late twenties or so, and Sisko even admits
that Dax taught him a great deal and seemed like another father to him, though
Sisko has also mentioned that Curzon Dax occasionally drank a little on the
heavy side and tended to appreciate the female form more than is normally deemed
appropriate for a joined Trill male.  Ten years before metting Commander Sisko,
Curzon Dax acted as confidant and advisor to General Tandro of Klaestron IV,
during which circumstances cast a shadow of doubt on Dax's true motives in his
conduct at that time - as brought up in the first season episode "Dax."  In
"Invasive Procedures," Dax and Sisko briefly reminisce about their mutual past,
including a tour aboard the USS Livingston, some time spent at the Cliffs of
Bole - actually an in-joke referring to frequent director Cliff Bole - and a
vague insinuation about Sisko's bachelor party being particularly memorable (!).
The symbiont's second host was a man named Tobin, described by Dax's current
incarnation as a skilled engineer who barely had a sex life ("The Siege").
   Dax now lives in the body of a 29-year-old woman (but Sisko still refers to
her occasionally as "old man" - the actual parasite itself is over 300 years
old.)  Having now been joined with Dax for two years, Jadzia competed with other
young people for the honor of becoming a Trill host, and attained four
specialization degrees on her own before joining with Dax.  Trills are selected
for the joining by the symbiosis evaluation board on Trill, and Dax warns Verad
in "Invasive Procedures" that the board carefully selects hosts and symbionts,
as even slight incompatibility in interests or personality can result in
permanent psychological damage to both host and symbiont.  93 hours after the
joining, a ceremony which combines medical transplant and ritual, the host and
symbiont are dependent on one another for their lives.  The combined Trill must
try to avoid insect bites, as the symbiont is allergic to most substances passed
on by a bite.  Jadzia Dax now serves as science officer on Deep Space 9, and
unwittingly serves as a sight for the sore eyes of Dr. Bashir, whom she tries to
remind of her society's belief that physical relationships, or relationships
based upon physical traits, are considered shallow and useless by Trills much of
the time.  Bashir wistfully hopes that Dax will reach a decision point much like
that which Odan must have reached in "The Host".  Apparently, at some point in
the past as a part of another host, Dax has had families, as mentioned in "The
Nagus."


Ŀ
 FERENGI ALLIANCE  -  sociopolitical overview  (TNG/DSN)      updated Nov. 93 

   The vicious, greedy Ferengi travel about in streamlined vessels, attempting
to accumulate goods, territory and profits.  Their ships are equipped with
weaponry and defenses, but it is assumed that most of the interior of a Ferengi
vessel is designed to carry whatever loot they capture during their travels.
Other bits and pieces of information on the Ferengi include the fact that, when
forced to surrender, a Ferengi captain, or Daimon, is required to hand his
second officer over to whatever power defeated the Ferengi, at which point they
can do whatever they want with the Ferengi officer in question!  The Ferengi
deal in most anything they can, including ships ("Unification II," "Rascals").
Also, as revealed in "Rascals," some Ferengi operate outside the regulations of
their government in hopes of accumulating even more profit than they could under
what few rules the Ferengi must have...or, at least they claim to.
   Ferengi women have never been seen onscreen for good reason - in Ferengi
society, women are not permitted to wear clothes, leave their homes, or attempt
to accumulate profit.  (Ferengi women are also forbidden by the males to quote
any of the 285 sacred Rules of Acquisition.)  This was revealed when members of
a Ferengi landing party were shocked to see Tasha Yar wearing a Starfleet
uniform and acting as chief of security in "The Last Outpost."  In the fourth
season's "Menage a Troi," when Daimon Tog - considered a pervert by his fellow
Ferengi for finding human females attractive - kidnapped Riker, Counselor Troi
and Lwaxana Troi, the captured women were transported to Tog's cabin without
their clothes.  A renegade Ferengi woman named Pel managed to pass herself off
as a male, with synthetic earlobes covering her own smaller female ears, and
landed a job in Quark's bar.  Pel's knowledge of the Rules of Acquisition and
shrewd Ferengi trade practices impressed not only Quark, but Grand Nagus Zek,
and "he" got to accompany Quark on a lucrative mission to attempt to introduce
Ferengi commerce to the Gamma Quadrant.  Eventually, having fallen in love with
Quark, Pel revealed her true identity, but this caused an uproar.  Pel continues
to roam the galaxy, perhaps still masquerading as a male Ferengi.
   According to one Ferengi in "Rascals," the Ferengis' offspring are not taken
on space voyages for their own protection.  However, just how safe they are back
home is probably relative; in the "A Man Alone" installment of "Deep Space
Nine," Nog's father reveals that Ferengi teach their young in a work-study
environment where, if they survive and make profit, they obviously know their
stuff and they're ready to take on commercial activity full-time.  Knowing the
exploitative practices of the Ferengi, even among themselves, it's doubtful that
the Ferengi have child labor laws, so their young may also serve as cheap labor
while they're "learning."  If a Ferengi aspires to the height of capitalism, he
could become a Grand Nagus, apparently a title bestowed upon a Ferengi kingpin
(whether or not there is only one Nagus or a number of them is not yet known -
watch "The Nagus" episode in the first season of "Deep Space Nine" to meet the
Nagus himself and learn more.  And remember to kiss his scepter!)  In "Encounter
at Farpoint," it was also hinted that the Ferengi practice cannibalism, though
whether that practice refers to other Ferengi or, perhaps, captured members of
other races was never made clear (though in the aforementioned "The Nagus"
segment, Krax can be seen chowing down on some kind of small animal...).  The
possibility of cannibalism has not been mentioned since, so it may merely be a
product of the early first season that later story editors, gourmet chefs,
writers and producers have chosen to ignore.  When the producers say that there
is no cannibalism among the Ferengi, they mean that there is a certain amount!


Ŀ
 GAMMA QUADRANT - first contact reports  (DSN)                updated Dec. 93 

   The Federation's first contact with inhabitants of the Gamma Quadrant
occurred with the unexpected arrival of a single member of the Tosk race
("Captive Pursuit"), a reptilian biped who, according to one of a group of
vaguely similar aliens who followed him to Deep Space 9, was specially bred as a
game animal.  Equipped with some manner of life-support suit that supplies
sustainence, the Tosk provide the hunters on their world with a dangerous but
exciting hunt.  O' Brien assisted the sole Tosk in escaping from a group of
well-armed hunters, much to Sisko's dismay.
   The next contact from the Gamma Quadrant came in the form of Vash, an
acquaintance - to put it mildly - of Captain Picard.  While Vash, strictly
speaking, did not originate in the Gamma Quadrant, that's where she wound up
(aided and more frequently abetted by Q), and upon her return to the Alpha
Quadrant she brought some manner of creature in emryonic or egg form which fed
on the station's energy.  When beamed into space, the being burst out of its
chrysalis stage and instinctively headed back to the Gamma Quadrant via the
wormhole.
   Perhaps the first formal contact of an exploratory rather than accidental
nature came with the Wadi, a race first encountered in the Gamma Quadrant by a
Vulcan science vessel.  The Wadi paid a return visit to the crew of DS9,
bringing with them many artifacts of their culture, including a complex
multi-leveled game called Chula.
   The next Gamma Quadrant arrival was a Rakhari refugee known as Croden.  He
befriended Quark and they concocted a scheme to steal a valuable item from a
pair of twin Miradorn pirates; the plan went awry and Croden was arrested by
Odo, but when taking him back to Rakhar in the Gamma Quadrant, the possibility
arose that Croden was actually on the run for no reason aside from being in the
wrong place at the wrong time during a political upheaval of some sort.
   During an initially quiet sightseeing tour through the wormhole for the
benefit of Kai Opaka, a Runabout carrying Opaka, Sisko, Bashir and Kira crashed
on a moon circled by defensive satellites programmed to shoot down any
approaching vessels.  The moon turned out to be a penal colony confining two
warring factions, the Ennis and the Nol-Ennis, in a conflict rendered immortal
by a microbe which repairs mortal wounds and revives the dead.  Kai Opaka,
killed in the Runabout's crash landing, was herself resurrected by the microbes,
which do not allow a victim to leave the moon's surface.  Sisko and the others,
unaffected by the microbes which only responded to fatal wounds, managed to
escape; Opaka stayed behind in hopes of negotiating peace among the warring
parties.
   The next contact from the wormhole involved a small probe which entered the
Alpha Quadrant and planted a subroutine in DS9's computer.  O' Brien eventually
sorted out the unusual effects of the program, and presumably it still lives in
its own "doghouse" in the station's computer.
   A Klingon vessel on a biosurvey in the Gamma Quadrant ran across telepathic
historical archives of the epic power struggle of an extinct alien society.  The
archives grafted information across the brainwaves of people exposed to them, in
this case the Klingon crew, who re-enacted the skullduggery and wound up
destroying their own ship while returning to the Alpha Quadrant.  The sole
surviving Klingon crewmember beamed aboard DS9 and exposed the Ops crew to the
influence of the alien archives as well, pitting Sisko and O' Brien against Kira
and Dax in a game of treachery.  Odo averted the game being played out to its
grisly end by forcing the telepathic influence out of crew members and into deep
space.
   Quark was the next denizen of DS9 to make a foray into the Gamma Quadrant -
for profit, of course.  On behalf of Grand Nagus Zek, Quark attempted to
negotiate with the Dosi for the exclusive Alpha Quadrant rights for distribution
of tulaberry wine, a delicacy from the Dosi's homeworld.  In reality, however,
Zek was simply maneuvering Quark in an effort to find out about a hitherto
unknown organization known as the Dominion.  The hostile Dosi acknowledge that
the Dominion controls commerce in the Gamma Quadrant, and hinted that anyone
wishing to conduct business there must contact the Karemma.
   More tentative hints of the Dominion were heard when the next visitors from
the Gamma Quadrant emerged near DS9, the refugee race known as the Skrreea.
Looking for a new world on which to make their home - specifically the legendary
Kentaana, which the Skrreeans initially believe is Bajor - these beings have
just escaped decades of dominance by another species in the Gamma Quadrant, and
they credit the Dominion with driving the oppressors away at last.
   Undoubtedly, there's a lot more to learn, and a run-in with the Dominion
seems inevitable...


Ŀ
 GUINAN  -  biographical profile  (TNG)                       updated Dec. 92 

   Guinan's point of origin may never be identified in "Next Generation" lore.
All that is known of her is that she is hundreds of years old (a younger Guinan
is encountered in the late 19th century by Data and the crew in "Time's Arrow"),
and has senses and abilities beyond human understanding (and possibly beyond our
comprehension as well).
   In the "Next Generation" Writers' Guide, it is stated that Guinan is a member
of a species whose people, by telepathy, empathy, or some other means, encourage
others to speak the truth to them.  Picard's first meeting with Guinan (which,
incidentally, was not the first time Guinan met Picard) occurred during his 22
year mission aboard the Stargazer, at which time he was intrigued by her and her
people.  (This, however, contradicts Guinan's telling Wesley Crusher, in "The
Child," that she never met Picard until she boarded the Enterprise.  She may
simply have been trying to forestall awkward questions, though it seems unusual
that Guinan would lie to any of the crew, particularly the impressionable young
Wesley.)  Picard obviously had some means of keeping in touch with her, because
sometime after "The Neutral Zone" and before "The Child," when the new
Ten-Forward lounge facility was installed on the Enterprise, he used his pull at
Starfleet Command to bring Guinan aboard (not as a member of Starfleet, however)
to oversee Ten-Forward.
   Guinan's first meeting with Picard, on the other hand, took place in 19th
century San Francisco, where she was masquerading as a philanthropic socialite
in order to observe humans, which fascinated her.  Picard, Riker, Dr. Crusher,
Geordi, and Data had traveled back to the 1890s to recover Data, who had also
been dragged into the past through a time warp.  She first met them at this
point, and asked Data, on their first meeting, if he had been sent by her father
to watch or retrieve her.  In addition to her father, Guinan has mentioned an
uncle of hers, Turcum, whom her mother considered dangerously weird.  As it
happens, Turcum happened to be the only member of Guinan's family to possess any
sense of humor whatsoever.  In "Evolution," Guinan states that she has had many
husbands (and the implication seems to be there that she's had multiple husbands
at the same time), along with many children.  There seems to be an implication,
in "Rascals," the Guinan's father is still alive, since she says he is 700 years
old - not speaking in the past tense, as she usually does when she talks about
others of her species.
   Other facts known about Guinan: she has a long history with two of the
Enterprise crew's most dreaded adversaries, Q and the Borg.  Apparently, she
knows Q on a personal basis, but the relationship is not friendly.  Q insists,
every time he encounters Guinan, that she is a troublemaker who is concealing
her true identity, though Picard seems to pay little attention to such charges
because the same description seems to fit Q.  On one occasion, in "Q Who," Q
offered to dispose of Guinan, who then raised her hands in a curious gesture, as
if to ward off Q's powers, and the two seemed deadlocked for that moment.  What
Guinan was actually doing is not known, but it is notable that she is apparently
the only person on the Enterprise who could oppose Q in any way, or, for that
matter, be considered a threat by him.  Guinan's past concerning the Borg is
tragic; the cyber-augmented aliens swarmed over her home world, assimilating or
destroying most of her people and forcing the survivors to escape to wherever
they could, wandering nomadically.  No other members of Guinan's endangered race
have ever been encountered.
   Another fascinating trait of Guinan's is her ability to instinctively know
the fabric of time itself.  During the alternate timeline in "Yesterday's
Enteprise," Guinan, though she had been changed along with everybody else when
the Enterprise-C emerged from a time distortion and changed history, could
somehow tell that the events occurring at that time were not "correct," or at
least did not match up with history as she had known it.  She insisted that the
war with the Klingons should have ended long ago, and she also dropped many
hints that Tasha Yar wasn't meant to be alive at that point in history.  Picard,
even in the alternate timeline, heeded Guinan's advice and sent the Enterprise-C
back into its rightful place in history with Tasha Yar on board, restoring the
universe to its original state.  None of the crew remembered these events until
"Redemption II," when Tasha's half-Romulan daughter Sela surprised Picard by
ordering him not to interfere with events at the Romulan-Klingon border.  Guinan
was again able to tell that Sela was a product of the version of history in
which the Enterprise-C had returned to fight Romulans over two decades before
with Tasha Yar on board.  Another interesting note about "Yesterday's
Enterprise" is the fact that, when she first saw the temporal rift from which
the Enterprise-C emerged, Guinan seemed to at least recognize the nature of the
phenomenon.
   Guinan is on good terms with just about anyone who walks into Ten Forward
(with the possible exception of Q), and sometimes seems to do more counseling
than Troi (in fact, when Troi lost her empathy in "The Loss," Guinan hinted that
she was putting herself up for Troi's job).  Members of the crew will often turn
to Guinan when they need advice but don't necessarily want to go "on the record"
by seeking Troi's professional help.  Guinan is older and probably much wiser
than any of her shipmates will ever be, but she is never condescending to them -
sometimes a welcome change for the crew of the Enterprise when dealing with
beings with great abilities.


Ŀ
 KIRA, NERYS  -  biographical profile  (DSN)                  updated Sep. 93 

   A major in the Bajoran Army, Major Kira (the name sequence is traditional
Bajoran - surname first, given name last, as in Ensign Ro Laren) was requested
as first officer by Commander Sisko.  She is a Bajoran freedom fighter who waged
war on the Cardassians since she was old enough to fight, but even when the
Cardassians have withdrawn from the sector, she still finds plenty of people to
be at odds with - Sisko, Quark, the provisional Bajoran government...she isn't
exactly happy with her job or the situation in general.  Kira is of the opinion
that the Federation, which kept its eyes shut to the conflict between the
Cardassians and Bajora until the Cardassians' outpost at Bajor suddenly became
unoccupied, has no business whatsoever overseeing the station or the nearby
wormhole.  The sight of a Cardassian was also sure to set her off at one time,
but a chance encounter with a terminally ill Cardassian named Marritza, whose
shame of his superiors' actions during their occupation of Bajor drove him to
attempt to cause the Cardassian Union a tremendous embarassment by altering his
appearance and announcing that he was a war criminal ("Duet"), made Kira realize
that good and evil are not necessarily delineated by species.  Despite her
reservations, she does want solutions to her people's problems, but having
experienced the deceitfulness of the Cardassians, she's always cautious whenever
such a solution finally avails itself.  In addition, Major Kira has a shady past
as a former member of the Kohn-Ma, a Bajoran terrorist underground with an
excessively violent history; a member of the Kohn-Ma attempted, soon after the
Federation's arrival at Deep Space 9, to sabotage the wormhole, which would
cause the Federation and the Cardassians alike to lose interest in Bajor, and he
tried to enlist the help of former comrade Kira.  Though some of her loyalties
were tested by her old fellow freedom fighter, Kira turned him over to the
proper authorities.  Her past as a terrorist still troubles her, as seen in
"Battle Lines," where she is advised by Kai Opaka to put her own past behind her
before she worries whether or not anyone else with forgive her for her actions.
In that episode and the later "In the Hands of the Prophets," Kira relates her
admiration for Bajoran spritual leaders such as Opaka and Vedek Winn for giving
the Bajora hope in their darkest hours of need.
   Another legendary figure revered by Kira is Li Nalas, a famous Bajoran
resistance leader who was discovered to be alive and in slavery on Cardassia IV.
In her most recent mission, Kira commanded a guerilla liberation mission to
free Li and as many of his fellow slave laborers as possible.  But once back in
Bajoran space, Li Nalas managed to gain an instant honorary status in the
provisional government and replaced Kira as the liaison officer to DS9.  Last
reports from the station indicate that Major Kira has been recalled to Bajor...


Ŀ
 KIRK, JAMES TIBERIUS  -  biographical profile  (TOS)         updated Dec. 92 

   Captain Kirk began his command career as one of the youngest officers in
Starfleet ever to become captain of a starship - especially of the largest
Federation ship at that time, a Constitution class vessel - and kept his
position, with only a few interruptions, until he reached the mandatory
retirement age for humans serving in Starfleet.  (Having reached the rank of
admiral and then being demoted again to captain, Kirk may also have the dubious
distinction of being Starfleet's oldest captain as well.)
   A native of Iowa, James T. Kirk fought all odds possible to attain his
destiny as captain of the Enterprise.  As a youngster on Tarsus IV, Kirk was one
of the only surviving witnesses of Governor Kodos' order to execute those
members of the population he thought weaker and useless when a food shortage
placed the planet in jeopardy of mass starvation.  He apparently persevered and
finally reached Starfleet Academy, however, where his seemingly reckless ways of
tackling many problems may have been an annoyance to more than one instructor.
When Kirk took the Kobayashi Maru test, a simulated "no-win" command scenario,
he sidestepped the problems presented by two hopeless choices and offered one of
his own by reprogramming the simulator.  His brashness and his refusal to accept
that the only solutions to a problem were the ones made obvious put him on a
fast track to command.
   Somewhere in his later years at Starfleet Academy, Kirk had a relationship
with Dr. Carol Marcus, which resulted in a son, David.  Apparently, Kirk was not
present for David's birth or his childhood, but we'll come to that later.
Kirk's first assignment as captain was the starship Enterprise, one of the new
line of well-armed exploration vessels which were slated to venture further into
uncharted space than any previous Starfleet ships.  Inheriting numerous officers
from the the departing Captain Pike, Kirk made the Enterprise his own ship,
bringing with him old Academy friend Commander Gary Mitchell to serve as first
officer.  But the penetration of an energy barrier at the outer rim of the
galaxy resulted in Mitchell's gaining superhuman powers, which the first officer
began to perceive as a means of superiority over others.  At this point, science
officer Spock advised Kirk to abandon Mitchell or otherwise dispose of him
before his powers became impossible to withstand.  Kirk was reluctantly forced
to kill Mitchell and visiting psychological observer Dr. Dehner on a remote
planet, but he obviously recognized Spock's potential and the value of the
Vulcan's advice on this occasion, and, instead of requesting a new first officer
for the Enterprise, also gave Spock the duties of first officer.  And the rest,
as they say, is history.
   Among Kirk's distinguished accomplishments on the Enterprise were numerous
displays of brinksmanship with the Klingons, one of which failed until the
mysterious Organians imposed a treaty on both governments; the first ever visual
contact between the Federation and the Romulans; discovering that the governor
of Tarsus IV who had massacred thousands before Kirk's eyes was alive and well,
posing as an actor; encountering a planet-devouring alien vehicle and destroying
it just before it moved into populated space...and numerous other adventures
which are described one by one below.  After returning from the five year
mission of the Enterprise, Kirk was promoted to admiral and become Chief of
Operations at Starfleet, but he knew - as did others, such as Dr. McCoy - that
he really didn't want to sit in a chair behind a desk, but rather a chair in the
center of the bridge of a starship.  When a destructive entity entered
Federation space on a beeline for Earth, Kirk convinced Starfleet to give him
command of the refitted Enterprise.  After successfully diverting V'ger from its
intention to destroy humanity, Kirk apparently went back to his desk job and
Spock assumed command of the Enterprise.  During his observation of a cadet
training cruise, however, Kirk leaped back into active duty to confront his old
nemesis Khan, and during the course of this battle he was reunited with Dr.
Carol Marcus, who, with her son David, had designed the Genesis terraforming
device, which Khan intended to use as a weapon against Kirk.  Once the battle
with Khan had ended (though at the cost of Spock's life), Kirk and the
Enterprise returned to Earth once more, and at the urging of Spock's father,
Kirk rounded up his closest and most trusted officers to take the Enterprise on
a mission to retrieve Spock's body - an unauthorized mission which would cost
Kirk his admiralty, though, considering the monotony of his desk duties, it
seems doubtful that Kirk would look forward to anything but being relieved of
them!
   The Enterprise was ordered to self-destruct by Kirk to eliminate a boarding
party of Klingons, and Kirk and his officers commandeered a Klingon Bird of Prey
and, having recovered Spock, left the planet on which Genesis had been
accidentally used.  On a return journey to Earth to stand trial for disobeying
Starfleet orders and stealing the Enterprise, Kirk and his crew discovered that
the planet was under attack by an unknown alien probe.  Kirk decided to take a
risky visit to the 20th century to pick up a pair of humpback whales - an
species, extinct in the 24th century, whose abrupt silence had caused aliens
with which they had long been in contact to visit Earth to find them - and
returned to 24th century Earth with the whales, heading off the certain doom
that would be inflicted by the alien probe.  In light of his and his crew's
rescue of the planet, Kirk alone was demoted to captain, and assigned once more
to command a starship: the newly constructed, advanced Enterprise, NCC-1701-A.
   To this day, Kirk's ultimate fate after retiring from Starfleet years later
is not known.  He is spoken of, in "The Next Generation," in the past tense; but
it should be remembered that, until Spock eventually appeared in the new show's
"Unification," he too was spoken of in the past tense.  Something else to
remember is Kirk's own statement in "Star Trek V" - "I've always known I'll die
alone."  Well, Spock is on important personal business on the other side of the
Romulan neutral zone, and Scotty mysteriously vanished into the future......


Ŀ
 KLINGON EMPIRE  -  sociopolitical overview                    updated May 93 

   Introduced toward the end of the original show's first season, the Klingons
have been a constant in the "Star Trek" universe - savage, cruel, untrustworthy,
ruthless and ambitious, but usually well-spoken (even on the subjects of
savagery, cruelty and ambition).  The goal of most Klingon men (only one or two
Klingon women were seen until "The Next Generation") is to fight in a glorious
battle, and the culmination of a Klingon's life is expected to be a valiant
death in that glorious battle.  When a Klingon warrior dies, his comrades (if
any are left alive, and if there is a pause in the heat of battle) pry his eyes
open and scream heavenward, announcing to the residents of the hereafter that a
hero of the Klingon Empire is about to join them.  Militant and warlike, the
Klingons were only kept from the Federation's throat by a zone of declared
neutral space and an often disregarded treaty, and finally their patience wore
thin and they barged into undefended areas of space.  The Organians, beings who
looked like medieval human beings on the outside when they were first seen,
occupied the choiciest planet in the sector the Klingons entered, but when Kirk
and the Enterprise moved in to offer the Organians protection, which nearly
exploded into a threat of full-scale war with the Klingon commander Kor, the
Organians revealed their true nature as floating masses of energy capable of
rendering the combatants' weapons and starships inoperable.  The Organians
imposed a treaty on the Federation and the Klingons, prophesizing that the two
powers would one day work together in peace.
   The Klingons were seen several times in Classic Trek, and were established as
human-looking only with darker skin, black hair and, usually, a goatee or beard
of some sort.  However, in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," the Klingons seen at
the beginning of the movie were drastically different, wearing more
sophisticated armor as well as having a series of bumps and ridges on their
foreheads, starting at the nose and running over the head, becoming part of the
spine itself.  This is how the Klingons have appeared ever since.  When the
Klingons were next encountered by Kirk and the Enterprise crew, they had
developed a new ship called a Bird of Prey which had a cloaking device to
render it invisible (not unlike the similar Romulan Bird of Prey seen in
"Balance of Terror").  Upon the destruction of the Enterprise - a ploy used to
dispose of a majority of the Klingon crew as they "took over" the ship - Kirk
and company hijacked the Bird of Prey and returned to Earth in it to deal with
an alien probe searching for an extinct species of whale.  A later version of
the Bird of Prey, a prototype of which was tested by Klingon General Chang,
could fire while cloaked (the earlier versions of both Klingon and Romulan
ships had to become visible for a moment before firing), but the new design was
either abandoned to preserve peace, or else it was later proven unsafe, since
no Klingon ships seen in "The Next Generation," set decades beyond the original
series and movies, can fire while cloaked.
   No precise time has really been stated as the beginning of the peace between
the Federation and Klingons.  It has been established that the beginning of
"The Next Generation" happens 79 years after the original "Star Trek," and it
has also been said that the alliance with the Klingons did not occur until 20
year before "The Next Generation"'s first episode, placing the actual beginning
of peace some 55-60 years after the original "Trek."  Trying to squeeze the
events of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" into this puzzle, however,
is the mystery.  The first "Trek" movie probably occured one or two years after
the end of the Enterprise's five-year tour, which didn't wind down until two
years after "Turnabout Intruder" if we take the three years of the original
series as three years of the mission itself.  This places the first movie at
50-55 years before the alliance.  "Star Trek II" through "Star Trek IV" appear
to be placed back-to-back, with a likely gap of two to five years between "The
Motion Picture" and "The Wrath of Khan," leaving 45-50 years between the finale
of "The Voyage Home" and the explosion of Praxis in "The Undiscovered Country."
   "Star Trek V" probably occurs no more than a year later than "Trek IV" since
there seems to be a sense of immediacy in repairing the new Enterprise, and
it's obvious that the ship didn't make it very far from spacedock.  Now here's
the big mystery - how soon after "Trek V" does "Trek VI" occur?  There is at
least a three year gap, since Sulu has commanded the Excelsior for three years
by the time of "The Undiscovered Country."  Another report, however, places the
Enterprise's final mission at fifteen years later than "The Final Frontier,"
and that would seem to make a little more sense, as Kirk, McCoy and others have
aged much more than three years (or so their wrinkles and grey hair, which were
not as prominent in "Star Trek V," would suggest).  That leaves about 30-35
years between the actual alliance and the Khitomer conference, which Kirk and
company saved.
   Now, here's the other big mystery in the Klingon story.  In "Trek VI," it is
clearly stated that the Klingon Empire is in serious trouble and needs help
from the Federation right away if it is to survive.  There's a thirty year gap
in there, and if the Klingons didn't make peace until twenty years before "Next
Generation" begins, did they receive aid from the Federation in that time?
Perhaps so - as "Trek VI" contained many analogies to the end of the Cold War,
it wouldn't be too unbelievable to draw another analogy along the same lines.
Maybe the Federation provided assistance on a trial basis, as the United States
had provided the Soviet Union with grain.  But what happened then?  A clear
implication exists in "The Next Generation" that hostilities continued - and it
has been stated at least once that the Federation defeated the Klingons in some
manner of a final battle.  Was there an alliance between the Klingons and
Romulans?  It is obvious that the Federation either helped the Klingons get
back on their feet and the Empire returned the favor by resuming hostilities,
or that the Klingons had help from another party.
   By the time of "Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine," the Klingon Empire
formed an alliance with the Federation, paving the way for the only Klingon
officer currently known to be serving in Starfleet, the Enterprise's Lieutenant
Worf.
   The Klingon Empire's alliance with the Federation has been covered in many
episodes, including "Heart of Glory," "A Matter of Honor," "Loud as a Whisper,"
"Sins of the Father" and others.  In "Hide And Q," Q implies that the rigid
Klingon code of honor allowed the Federation to defeat them.  Also, it is known
that Sarek of Vulcan and Riva participated in some manner of negotiations, and
that diplomatic relations with the Empire are sometimes stretched to the
limits, as seen in "Sins of the Father," "Heart of Glory" and "A Matter of
Honor," all three of which contribute to the general feeling that the Klingons
are very suspicious of the Federation and of the alliance.  It is mentioned in
"Aquiel" that Klingons have not raided a Federation installation in seven years
- which places the last Klingon attack on the Federation at just a year before
the Enterprise began her voyages.  In "Redemption," a conspiracy threatened to
splinter the Klingon-Federation detente and ally the Klingons to the Romulans.


Ŀ
 LA FORGE, GEORDI  -  biographical profile  (TNG)             updated Nov. 93 

   Geordi was born without optic nerves, the son of a famous scientist (his
father) and a Starfleet commander (his mother).  His parents' varying duties
often seperated the family, and Geordi shipped out with one or the other of his
parents, but seldom both.  His father is a scientist, and his mother was a
starship captain; her last charge, the USS Hera, disappeared without a trace in
the line of duty, all hands assumed lost ("Interface").  Geordi also has one
sister.  Sometime after he turned eight years old, Geordi was given an answer to
his blindness, a prosthetic device called a VISOR which allows Geordi to see the
entire range of human sight and the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum.  This
ability, completely overlooked in some cases ("Disaster," where Doctor Crusher
pointed out to Geordi that a wall in the ship was heating up which he apparently
had not noticed), has also gotten Geordi out of some tight scrapes ("The Enemy,"
to name just one).  But when captured by the Romulans, Geordi was brainwashed
and his VISOR was used to relay instructions to him in an attempt to use him to
assassinate a Klingon governor and make it look like a Federation operation.
The plot was stopped barely in time, and it's safe to assume that Geordi's VISOR
was repaired so he wouldn't become a Romulan puppet again, and perhaps it was
even completely foolproofed.


Ŀ
 McCOY, LEONARD H.  -  biographical profile  (TOS/TNG)            unavailable 



Ŀ
 MORN - Deep Space 9's celebrity barfly profile  (DSN)        updated Jan. 94 

   A hulking Lurian, Morn spends most of his time at Quark's, where everybody
knows his name (though we've never seen him speak to anybody).  Lurking in the
background for many early episodes, Morn steps into the limelight briefly in
"The Nagus" when Quark is telling him a joke as the Nagus arrives unexpectedly.
It is in this story that we may also deduce that Morn's just hanging around and
looking for something to do, as he later seeks Quark's company when Quark is
arranging a Ferengi business conference.  Quark shoos Morn away, much to Morn's
disappointment, though it's obviously not enough to shake the big guy off, as he
can be seen again in "Vortex."  In "Vortex" we have to assume that Morn can
somehow speak, since Odo gleans some vital information from Morn concerning
Quark's dirty dealings here (though, of course, we don't get to see Morn relate
this information - if we ever do, it'll probably turn out like the huge, strong
cellmate of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder in "Stir Crazy"...a huge guy with a
high-pitched pre-pubescent voice!).  We can also be pretty sure that Morn speaks
by judging from Dax's revelation in "Progress" that Morn asked her out.  (For
the record - she turned him down, but there's hope for him yet, since she thinks
those little wiry hairs on his forehead "make him kinda cute"...)
   Morn's next noteworthy appearance is a brief one in the opening scene of
"Rules of Acquisition," in which Odo finds him sleeping on a bench in the
Promenade.  Morn also shows up briefly in "Sanctuary," shedding a few tears
while listening to Bajoran musician Varani play at Quark's.  (It's also worth
noting that a female member of the Starfleet crew can be seen snuggling up to
Morn shortly afterward.  Sorry, Dax, you had your chance.  For the record,
there's also a brief Morn sighting in the TNG episode "Birthright Part I" in
which Morn can be seen courting yet another female on the Promenade.)  Last but
not least, Morn can be seen in the crowd gathered at Quark's to pay tribute to
an allegedly dead Ferengi who created the general use holosuite in "The
Alternate."
   More reports on Deep Space 9's favorite barfly will become available as Morn
is sighted in future episodes!  You read it here first!


Ŀ
 O' BRIEN, MILES EDWARD  -  biographical profile  (TNG/DSN)   updated Oct. 93 

   Miles O' Brien, formerly chief of the transporter operations division on the
starship Enterprise, transferred to Deep Space 9 when it presented a chance for
promotion and perhaps a more stable living environment for his wife Keiko and
their infant daughter Molly.  He obviously didn't have to chance to look up any
references on the station before leaving his Enterprise posting!  Having gotten
used to the comfortable surroundings of the Enterprise, the leap to Deep Space
9's cramped, alien quarters was a tremendous shock, leaving Keiko very unhappy
with the move, upset that Molly will have to grow up in a shabby space station
surrounded by aliens and visitors who, if not entirely corrupt, are at least
suspicious.  For his part, though, Miles himself is occupied by the task of
continually fixing the station, a job made harder by the incomprehensible
technology of the Cardassians.
   O' Brien and Keiko both served on the Enterprise for a number of years.
Keiko (maiden name: Ishekawa) was a botany specialist who was introduced to O'
Brien by Lt. Commander Data.  O' Brien himself was head of the transporter
division since around the second year of the Enterprise's mission (he first
appears as transporter chief in "The Child," though Colm Meaney appeared in the
first season as both a helmsman and a security officer, but it is not known if
either of these two roles was meant to be O' Brien - the second, however, could
have been O' Brien; read on for details), having come aboard the Enterprise
after a tour on the USS Rutledge under Captain Benjamin Maxwell.  On the
Rutledge, Miles served as tactics officer during the war with the Cardassians,
and he experienced events during this time that changed him forever (see the
"The Wounded" for more details - it would also explain his apparent security
duty in "Lonely Among Us.").  After Miles and Keiko felt they were ready for
marriage, the usual pre-wedding mayhem broke loose ("Data's Day"), but they did
marry, and roughly a year later Keiko gave birth to Molly under the watchful eye
of the most experienced medic present: Worf.  After witnessing Jake Sisko and
his Ferengi pal Nog get into a spot of trouble on the Promenade, Keiko got
permission from Commander Sisko to open a school, whose students include not
only children of the human Federation crew but Nog and some Bajoran children.
Keiko attracted the unwanted attention and hostilities of Bajoran religious
leader Vedek Winn when Keiko's teachings of the scientific aspects of the
wormhole were declared by Winn to be in fundamental opposition to Bajoran
religious teachings. It was only after an assassination attempt on another
Bajoran who turned out to be leading well ahead of Winn in the race to replace
the late Opaka as Kai that the rage over Keiko's teachings were revealed to be
part of Winn's overzealous plot, and that Keiko - and her lesson plan - just
happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.
   O' Brien still refers to his father in the present tense in the fourth season
episode "Family," and in "Invasive Procedures" he reveals he has two brothers.
His mother - referred to in the past tense in "The Wounded" though we can't make
any assumptions of her status - evidently preferred cooking to using
replicators.  Keiko's mother has been mentioned as still being alive and well at
100, living on Earth in Kumamoto ("Emissary" and "The Passenger").


Ŀ
 ODO  -  biographical profile  (DSN)                          updated Nov. 93 

   Odo is an honorary Bajoran constable who had served on the station long
before the arrival of Sisko and the rest of the Starfleet team, though he's been
there less than eighteen years (according to "Babel").  A shapeshifter, Odo was
able to blend into his surroundings and learned about the denizens of the
station from experience.  As a result, Sisko relies on Odo's knowledge of
activities on the station (especially the Promenade), but Odo has a method of
acting independently in a way that, while it commands the respect and attention
of the beings who frequent Deep Space 9, irritates Sisko at times because Odo's
actions aren't exactly Starfleet regulation.  Odo has a fairly concrete idea of
justice, but has unusual ideas in other areas, such as his refusal to use
phasers (not to mention the understandable fact that he doesn't allow phasers or
other weapons on the Promenade).  Aside from this, however, Odo has no idea of
his own origin; he was found in a drifting space vessel in the middle of the
Denorios Belt and wound up being brought to Bajor, where he was studied by a
Bajoran scientist named Mora Pol (who revisits his discovery in "The
Alternate").  He later became a sort of de facto arbitrator of disputes among
the Bajorans, which led to his eventual appointment as an investigator aboard
DS9 by Gul Dukat ("Necessary Evil").  His first case was to solve the murder of
a Bajoran named Vattrick, whose wife claimed that a new arrival on the station
had been involved with him and killed him.  That new arrival turned out to be
resistance fighter Kira Nerys.
   Presently, Odo continues to try to investigate his past, and he's not the
only one; some of the station's occupants are suspicious of the fact that Odo
has remained in charge of security even though he apparently enforced Cardassian
rule of law on DS9 when the Cardassians occupied Bajor.  Odo also has a humorous
rapport with Quark, who's a valuable source of information from below decks (as
well as someone Odo would be more than happy to throw in the slammer, given the
chance).
   His shapeshifting abilities require much energy, therefore Odo can't just
change at will as much as he wants to.  His native form is that of a puddle of
viscous, copper-colored liquid, and he must revert to that form every eighteen
hours to rest in a bucket in the back of his office.  When in human form, his
face is flat and featureless, with some angles where human faces have curves and
smooth surfaces - Odo hasn't quite gotten the hang of humans' true appearance
yet, nor is he fond of their sentimentalities and quirks (though it has been
said that he initially found an appreciative audience among DS9's original
owners with a "Cardassian neck trick").


Ŀ
 PICARD, JEAN-LUC  -  biographical profile  (TNG/DSN)         updated Feb. 93 

   A native of France on Earth, Picard had an illustrious Starfleet service
record even before his mission on the Enterprise.  Having led the USS Stargazer
on a 22-year exploration mission, Picard has mentioned various events of that
ship's voyage, including a trip to Chalna and having once retreated from a
Cardassian warship, but he was forced to abandon the Stargazer after it was
damaged in a Ferengi ambush.  Picard devised what Starfleet Academy cadets
later knew as "the Picard Maneuver" and destroyed the Ferengi vessel (the angry
father of the Ferengi ship's DaiMon later tried to avenge him in "The Battle")
but had to leave the Stargazer behind, for which he was court-martialed.  These
events, said to have occurred nine years before his tour on the Enterprise,
have probably been completely forgotten by now with his many successes since.
   Much of Picard's youth has been discussed, chiefly his impetuosity when he
was a teenager at school (as mentioned by his older brother Robert in "Family")
and in Starfleet Academy.  When at a recreation facility, Ensign Picard, then a
21-year old fresh out of the Academy (this story is recounted in "Samaritan 
Snare," and finally seen in sixth season's "Tapestry"), started a brawl with
three Nausicaan ruffians.  With two fellow cadets, Picard put up a surprisingly 
good fight against the aliens, who were twice as big as any of the Starfleet 
officerss, but Picard wound up being stabbed through the back.  Rushed to a 
medical facility, Picard required an artificial heart since his original heart 
was damaged beyond recovery.  (Q once gave Picard a chance to change that event 
in history, but after seeing how life would have been for him had he always 
taken it one very cautious step at a time, Picard decided to restore his 
personal history and instigate the fight after all.)  Picard also told Wesley
Crusher, on at least one occasion, that he learned his most valuable lessons at
Starfleet Academy from Boothby - the Academy groundskeeper.  Little is known
what lesson Picard learned, but on a later visit to Earth and the Academy ("The
First Duty"), it was apparent that Boothby had once forced Picard to reveal a
hidden truth about something, as Picard later had to convince Wesley to do (see
Wes's profile for more information on the incident in question).  What is also
known is that he left Earth for his first tour of duty without saying goodbye to
his girlfriend Janice, who later married scientist Paul Manheim ("We'll Always
Have Paris").  Picard's parents were named Maurice and Evette, and he often
credits his Aunt Adele with an impressive number of household cures.  (Maurice
and Evette Picard have both been glimpsed in illusions, in "Tapestry" and "Where
No One Has Gone Before," respectively.)
   Picard's voyages on the Enterprise haven't been free of problems either.  As
early as the first season, Admiral Quinn and Lt. Commander Remmick investigated
the Enterprise thoroughly, checking to make sure that Picard had not been taken
over by an alien conspiracy.  Quinn and Remmick themselves later fell victim to
the same conspiracy, and though Remmick was killed in the course of stopping
the aliens from taking over Starfleet, Quinn was saved.  The conspirators also
killed Captain Walker Keel, a close friend of Picard for many years who had
also known Jack Crusher.  Of course, later encounters included Picard's capture
by the Borg, which few stories since "The Best Of Both Worlds" have mentioned,
although the Borg's use of his knowledge of Starfleet enabled them to destroy a
blockade of 39 Starfleet vessels, killing 11,000 people.  Among those dead were
all but one member of the crew of the USS Saratoga.  The survivor, Commander
Benjamin Sisko, lost his wife in the battle and then held Picard personally
responsible for the outcome of the Borg attack (as seen in "Emissary," the first
episode of "Deep Space Nine").
   Picard's role as the arbiter of succession of the Klingon Empire was decided
for him by the dying Klingon leader K'mpec, and Picard carried out his duty to
install the new leader of the Empire in "Redemption."  Picard has had the
distinction of meeting Vulcan's Ambassador Sarek, who mind-melded with the
captain to stabilize Sarek in time for vital negotiations.  Picard also met
Sarek's son Spock in "Unification," in an attempt to find out why Spock had
traveled to Romulus.
   When an alien probe was sighted and locked on to the Enterprise ("The Inner
Light"), transmissions from that probe rendered Picard unconscious.  In the
space of less than half an hour, Picard lived, in his mind, 40 or more years in
the life of an astronomer, Kamin, of Kataan, a planet whose civilization would
die out in a few decades when the sun in their system went nova.  In actuality,
Kataan's parent star had gone nova, erasing all traces of Kamin's civilization
over one thousand years before the Enterprise's discovery of the probe.  Though
he realized he was still actually Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise,
Kamin adjusted and lived - with his wife and children - into old age, at which
point the truth was revealed to him: the probe surrounds its target's mind with
a complete simulation of life on Kataan, in the hopes that the recipient of the
probe's "message" will, in turn, tell others of the history, the life and the
eventual death of the planet.  Also found aboard the probe was the flute owned
by the real Kamin - which Picard could remember how to play after he awake from
spending decades in Kamin's life in twenty-odd minutes.
   On a recent occasion, Captain Picard was abruptly relieved of command of the
Enterprise and replaced by Captail Edward Jellico for a special mission (sixth
season's two-part "Chain of Command").  Picard led an undercover team consisting
of Worf and Dr. Crusher deep into Cardassian space, but he alone was captured by
Cardassians.  Tortured repeatedly in their attempt to extract information
concerning the strategic defenses of a Federation planet about which he knew
nothing, Picard suffered some psychological damage and brainwashing which,
presumably, he overcame with the assistance of Counselor Troi upon his return to
the Enterprise.


Ŀ
 QUARK  -  biographical profile  (DSN)                        updated Apr. 93 

   Quark oversees gambling on Deep Space 9's Promenade, having operated there
for four years prior to Sisko's arrival (also in Quark's resume is an eight year
tour on a Ferengi freighter).  He runs his bar on the Promenade and, in all
likelihood, has connections to crime, organized and disorganized, throughout the
station.  He covers his tracks well enough, however, to avoid being thrown in
the brig by Odo, who looks forward to the day when Quark can be put away.  In
the meantime, Quark's nephew, Nog, causes trouble on the station and befriends
Jake Sisko (causing him trouble, too).  Quark's brother, Rom, works for a
pittance at Quark's bar, and initially rejected the idea of Nog attending Keiko
O' Brien's newly-opened school on the station, though she managed to convince
Rom that knowledge of other cultures would allow young Nog to be a more
profitable member of society with the knowledge of how to conduct commerce with
many societies; Nog, not willingly, wound up in school shortly afterward, though
his stay in class was very short.  Embarassed by Nog's mention of homework
during a dinner attended by Grand Nagus Zek, Rom pulled his son out of school.
Though he tried to pretend he was glad to be free of school, Nog later admitted
to missing it and is being tutored by Jake Sisko (in "The Nagus," it is revealed
that Nog cannot even read, yet it is said many times that he is actually older
than Jake).


Ŀ
 RIKER, WILLIAM THOMAS  -  biographical profile  (TNG)        updated Jan. 94 

   The first thing Riker said after redocking the two separated sections of the
Enterprise in "Encounter at Farpoint" was his announcement to Picard that he
considered the captain's life too valuable to risk on away team missions and
that he would lead the Enterprise's landing parties on dangerous missions.
Knowing of Picard's stubborn streak concerning authority, some probably
expected the captain and Riker - or, as Picard calls him, "Number One" - to be
at odds before they even got the Enterprise underway, but Riker has proven to
be as stubborn as Picard, and as much of an asset to the ship as any captain
could hope to have.  In fact, in seventh season's "The Pegasus," Picard candidly
reveals to Admiral Pressman, who was Riker's first commanding officer, that this
quality was precisely why he chose Riker to be the Enterprise's first officer.
   Born in Alaska, Riker grew up with his father (Will's mother died while he
was a baby) and left home to sign up with Starfleet Academy in his teens due to
a very strained relationship with his father.  Moving quickly through the
Academy and into Starfleet, Riker became known as a cunning strategist and not
one to back down from anything.  On his very first assignment to the USS Pegasus
under Captain Pressman, Riker witnessed a shipwide mutiny against his captain.
Not knowing that the crew had caught wind of Pressman's illegal experimentation
with a cloaking device (which the Federation had promised not to develop in a
treaty with the Romulans), Riker defended Pressman and, with a small handful of
others loyal to the ship's captain, escaped the Pegasus in an evacuation pod
shortly before the ship blew up.  The true nature of the incident was covered up
until twelve years later, when Pressman commandeered the Enterprise to go
searching for the remains of the Pegasus and her secret experiment.
   Riker was also awarded a decoration for valor in the evacuation of a
Federation scientific team on a planet whose atmosphere closed off all
possibility of transporter or shuttle use for years at a time.  At some earlier
point, he became involved romantically with a Betazoid psychology student, one
Deanna Troi, and although that relationship also eventually ended due to Will's
choice of career over personal ties, they maintain a close friendship now that
both are serving on the Enterprise.
   Riker's strategic mind has salvaged numerous situations: while investigating
a possible alien conspiracy in the highest ranks of Starfleet, only a bluff by
Riker saved Picard and revealed the truth ("Conspiracy").  Riker also saved a
group of Enterprise crewmembers aboard the USS Hathaway by hiding an ace up his
sleeve and secretly ordering his crew to repair the warp drive ("Peak
Performance").  Perhaps most noteworthy of all, when Picard was kidnapped and
assimilated by the Borg, Riker assumed command of the Enterprise, followed the
Borg ship to Earth even after it had dispatched 39 starships effortlessly, and
once there, the crew stopped the Borg at the last possible moment from
conquering the Federation.  Although promoted to captain of the Enterprise on
that occasion, Riker chose to aquiesce to Picard and remain on board as first
officer once the captain had recovered.  Although Starfleet considers him to be
prime command material, Riker shows no signs at this time of wishing to vacate
the first officer's seat on the Enterprise.  He was relieved of duty - under
protest - during Captain Jellico's brief tenure as the Enterprise's commanding
officer ("Chain of Command"), but was restored to full rank and duty upon
Picard's return.
   One of Riker's more strenuous adventures followed not long after, when he
made an undercover visit to a planet torn by warring factions.  Starfleet
personnel were operating clandestinely on that world, and Riker was assigned to
warn them of the increasing danger of their situation; instead, he himself was
captured and subjected to a brainwashing technique which ultimately proved
unsuccessful due to his own psychological defense mechanisms.  On another
mission shortly afterward, he returned to the site of his heroic evacuation
effort eight years before ("Second Chance") and it was discovered that a
transporter glitch had accidentally created a copy of Riker, left stranded in
the scientific research base for eight years.  His psychological state after
such a long period of isolation resulted in some conflicts with the "original"
Riker as well as Counselor Troi, but the "copy," later opting to go by his
middle name, accepted a new assignment to another Starfleet vessel, proving
himself to be not so different from Will Riker after all.


Ŀ
 RO, LAREN  -  biographical profile  (TNG)                    updated June 92 

   A native of Bajor, Ro Laren never followed Starfleet regulations too easily.
Early in her Starfleet career (as documented in her debut episode "Ensign Ro"),
Ro was involved in an incident which has not been specified during her tour on
the starship Wellington.  Whatever orders Ro failed to follow on Garon II at the
time, it cost the Wellington eight crew members and Ro was court-martialed and
imprisoned for her actions (or lack of them).  Starfleet Admiral Kennelly later
bailed her out for a secret mission to escort Bajoran leaders to a summit with
Cardassian diplomats to resolve a long standing three-way dispute between the
Bajora, who held a grudge against the Federation for not assisting when the
Cardassians drove the Bajora out of their native territory decades earlier.
Upon her assignment to the Enterprise, Ro soon discovered that Kennelly was
actually trying to draw the Bajora into the Cardassians' line of fire to
eliminate them.  With the aid of Guinan, Ro told Picard what her actual orders
were, and the Bajoran leaders were saved by a plan formulated by Picard and Ro.
Kennelly was exposed and court-martialed, and Ro decided to remain on the
Enterprise instead of returning to prison.  Her abrasive nature occasionally
causes personality clashes with other members of the ship's crew - particularly
Commander Riker, who initially considered her presence on the ship to be a
disgrace (though an alien attack erased the crew's memories in "Conundrum" and
Riker and Ro were seen to be attracted to one another).
   Ro's past with the Cardassians keeps her suspicious of them whenever she
encounters them.  When she was only seven, Ro was forced to watch Cardassians
torture her father to death.  The Cardassians and Bajora have been mortal
enemies since the Cardassians overran Bajor and other worlds colonized by the
Bajora, enslaving the people and bleeding the planets dry of their natural
resources.  The remaining Bajora are nomadic and impoverished, and certainly
not able to wage anything like a full-scale war with the Cardassians.  In
"Ensign Ro," it was also implied that the problem of Bajoran/Cardassian
relations presents decisions the Federation seems to be procrastinating.
Whether to risk the already uneasy peace with the Cardassians to defend the
rights of the Bajora, or to simply try to turn away when the Cardassians take
another swipe at the Bajora, is apparently a decision the Federation isn't ready
to make, but a Starfleet team manning Deep Space 9 near Bajor may be enough of a
presence to deter Cardassian interference, and may eventually lead to admission
of the Bajora into the Federation.


Ŀ
 ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE  -  sociopolitical overview              updated Feb. 93 

   The Romulans, throughout "history" in "Star Trek," tend to disappear for
long periods of time and reappear suddenly.  In season one's "Balance of
Terror," they reappeared for what was apparently the first time in several
decades, attacking outposts along the neutral zone between Federation and
Romulan space.  Their ship, the streamlined Bird of Prey, fired blasts of
superheated plasma at the Romulans' targets and then diverted all power from
its weapons and defensive shields to activate the "cloaking device," which
somehow "bends" light rays around the ship so that its presence cannot be
detected simply by the visual wavelengths of the spectrum.  That doesn't mean
the Romulan Bird of Prey is completely undetectable, however.  By chasing a
Bird of Prey through the debris tail of a nearby comet, the Enterprise was able
to follow the ship and, after a pitch battle in which both ships took turns
outmatching the other, Kirk finally had the Romulans cornered.  Whereas the
Klingons value courage and war spoils, the Romulan society is focused on an
undying devotion to duty.  Rather than be captured by Kirk, the Romulan captain
ordered his own vessel to self-destruct.  Romulans serving in the military are
referred to as "centurions" in both the 23rd and 24th centuries, and in the
original series at least once, the leader of the Romulan Star Empire was
referred to as the Praetor.
   The normal state of Romulan-Klingon relations is very hostile, though there
appears to have been some cooperation.  The Romulans, for whatever reason,
later used Klingon battlecruisers (as seen in "Elaan of Troyius" and "Star
Trek: The Motion Picture") and outfitted them with cloaking devices.  In
exchange for the Klingon starship design, the Romulans apparently shared their
secrets of cloaking technology with the Klingons, since the Klingons unveiled
their own Bird of Prey (though a much different design from the Romulan ship of
the same name) in "Star Trek III," armed with a cloaking device.  The exchange
of technological secrets apparently did not continue much further, since, by
the time of "The Next Generation," the Klingons and Romulans hated each other
once more (though factions of Klingons apparently favored an alliance with the
less-than-peaceful Romulans, and the Romulans, so long as such an alliance
would be a threat to the Federation, seem to have no problems with luring the
Klingons into a treaty).  Apparently, some time before "Star Trek V," there was
a consensus among the governments of the three major galactic powers that any
major conflict would result in mutual destruction, resulting in the Nimbus III
experiment.  One representative, a diplomat from each government, was sent to
the remote world of Nimbus III in the neutral zone, including the Klingons'
General Koord, a former master strategist; St. John Talbot, a negotiator from
Earth; and a late arrival, a young Romulan diplomat named Caithlin Dar.  After
having apparently spent a great deal of time on Nimbus, Talbot and Koord seemed
disillusioned, lethargic, and drunk a good deal of the time.  Upon Dar's
arrival, the three had barely even introduced themselves before they were taken
hostage by the mad Vulcan idealist Sybok and his followers in an attempt to
lure starships to the planet.  The Enterprise was commandeered by Sybok, and
when the mission was salvaged by Kirk and his crew, there seemed, for a
fleeting moment, to be hope for peace between the Klingons, the Romulans, and
the Federation.  But the isolated experience of the Enterprise crew and the
three diplomats was apparently not enough to convince their governments that
resuming negotiations would be productive (the Nimbus III "negotiations," in
the opening scenes of "The Final Frontier," were obviously a mere formality to
which each government sent a figurehead representative and really didn't expect
to accomplish anything).  However, in "The Undiscovered Country," Klingon and
Romulan representatives were seen in the office of the President of the
Federation, though the Klingon Ambassador, previously seen in "Star Trek IV,"
was obviously a visitor rather than a full-time diplomat (the word "diplomat,"
of course, is used for lack of a better term when dealing with Klingons), so
the status of Romulan Ambassador Nanclus is a question mark.  Were the Nimbus
talks moved to Earth for security, if they were even continued at all?  As
"Trek VI" director Nicholas Meyer revealed in an interview in the magazine of
the official Star Trek Fan Club, "I don't know why there's a Romulan ambassador
on Earth, other than to serve the purposes of telling my story."
   Introduced to "Next Generation" at the end of the first season, the Romulans
have posed an increasing threat to the new Enterprise crew and, indeed, the
Federation.  As has already been noted in Classic Trek, the physical
similarities of the Romulans to Vulcans cannot be overlooked, leading to the
obvious conclusion that they share some common ancestry (more information on the
results of this similarity below).  Their space technology has increased as
exponentially as the Federation's, resulting in the spectacular and beautiful
Romulan warbird, as big as or bigger than the Enterprise-D herself.
   In the fourth season, a new threat is introduced - the implications of an
alliance between the Klingon and Romulan Empires.  Klingon collaborators, such
as Duras and J'Ddan, state clearly that they feel an alliance with the peaceful
Federation is watering down their warrior instinct and softening their society.
J'Ddan claims that an alliance with the Romulans would change that, resulting
in a powerful new force to be feared - particularly by the Federation.  Upon
the Enterprise's return to the Klingon Homeworld, Picard finds, in the midst of
his duties as the neutral arbiter of the succession of power of the Klingon
Empire, that this collaboration is being engineered by the family of the late
Duras and a Romulan commander named Sela, the daughter of the deceased former
Enterprise security chief, Tasha Yar.  Captain Picard, with the backing of
Starfleet, forces their plans out into the open, but Sela, loyal only to the
Romulan Empire, still prepares for further strikes against the Federation.
   In season five's two-part episode "Unification," it is revealed that Spock
- the original Enterprise's first officer, now valued advisor and Federation
ambassador - has made an unauthorized trip to the home planet of the Romulans.
Spock is found promoting peace between Romulus and Vulcan. Unfortunately, the
underground following of idealistic Romulans he acquires does not represent the
wishes of the Romulan government, and he almost becomes a pawn in a Romulan
gambit to conquer and enslave the Vulcan race.  Even though he escapes with the
help of Picard and Data, Spock remains on Romulus, hoping to enlighten enough
Romulans that may someday revolt against their totalitarian government and seek
a peaceful union with the Federation.  Spock is still mentioned as being alive
and well in sixth season's "Face of the Enemy," when his name is brought up in
the course of an elaborate and intricate defection scheme.  In that same story,
many revelations are made: reunification sympathizers or peace sympathizers are
more widespread than the glimpse of isolated idealism seen in "Unification,"
even to the point that there are sympathizers in the Romulan military.  The
Romulan intelligence, known as the Tal Shiar, is a KGB-like organization which
has been known to execute Romulans suspected of simply disagreeing with their
government; even among the military, the Tal Shiar is feared.  Among all
Romulans who are not "in the loop," the Tal Shiar is quietly resented, both for
its unreasonable and unethical use of power, and for its members' executive
perks.
   The Romulans were also encountered when a smaller ship (a previously unseen
design that appeared to be a cross between the 23rd century Bird of Prey seen
in the original series segment "Balance of Terror" and the Romulan scout
shuttle seen in "The Defector") was adrift far from home, having experienced an
onboard explosion while testing a new development in cloaking technology.  The
Romulans' new device changed the molecular phase of matter, allowing objects
and people to not only be invisible, but - for lack of a better term - "in a
different plane" than normal matter.  (It was mentioned that the Klingons had
briefly flirted with this technology, but abandoned it soon afterward.)  Such a
phase shift could allow entire ships to harmlessly hide inside planets and to
be unaffected by normal weapons (unless, of course, said weapons fire
originated from a similarly-phased vessel!).  People were also phased,
including Geordi La Forge and Ensign Ro, who were unable to communicate their
status to the rest of the Enterprise crew, who thought the two were dead ("The
Next Phase").  A phased Romulan - complete with a phased disruptor capable of
affecting Ro and Geordi - was dispatched to kill them before they could manage
to thwart a Romulan plan to blow up the Enterprise.  Phased agents cannot do
anything to normal physical surroundings, but they would make excellent spies -
and the fact that the Romulans have achieved this is an incredible threat to
Federation security.  But since the attempt to phase an entire ship failed in
"The Next Phase," it is safe to assume that the breakthrough of rendering whole
vessels completely invisible and invincible is still a long way off for the
Romulans.


Ŀ
 SCOTT, MONTGOMERY  -  biographical profile  (TOS/TNG)        updated Nov. 92 

   A native of Scotland on Earth, Montgomery Scott - better known by all as
"Scotty" - may have been destined for an assignment aboard the Enterprise, for
throughout the entire history of "Star Trek" from the original Enterprise on, no
other engineer in Starfleet has ever displayed such a devotion to duty and, more
importantly, such an uncanny ability to keep up with the repair schedules that
Captain Kirk habitually inflicted upon his own vessel!
   Scotty's familiarity with the warp engines and just about every other system
aboard the Enterprise saved the rest of the crew countless times.  He often
claims that he can't change the laws of physics, and to date, this has proved to
be absolutely correct - Scotty won't settle for changing the laws of physics; he
merely breaks them repeatedly.  Among his accomplishments are restarting warp
engines cold in record time (not an easy task, with the danger of overloading
present), gleaning emergency power during situations in which emergency power
would normally be heard only in the crew's prayers, and keeping the Enteprise as
a whole in one piece in ways the original designers probably wouldn't have
dreamed.  It is, perhaps, no small wonder that, over the Enterprise's five year
mission, so many other ships of the same size and design as the Enterprise fell
prey to various disasters because they didn't have an engineer like Scotty at
their disposal (in fact, one such vessel, the Enterprise's sister ship USS
Constellation, was minimally revived by Scotty after barely surviving a colossal
attack in "The Doomsday Machine").  Scotty knew his work was good, however, and
wouldn't hear a sour word from anyone on the subject of the Enterprise or her
crew (see "The Trouble for Tribbles" for an example - words cannot do it
justice).  When the Enterprise put in after her five year tour, Scotty accepted
no shore leave and, apparently, no promotion, so he could begin personally
overseeing refits of the Enterprise.
   In "The Motion Picture," the bugs don't appear to be worked out entirely from
the outset, but this can probably be attributed to the fact that Scotty didn't
perform every single necessary refit with his own hands.  After Spock rejoined
the crew from Vulcan as the Enterprise sped to an encounter with V'Ger, however,
the problems were soon worked out, and Scotty once again was the man behind the
smoothest-running ship in Starfleet.  Scotty's nephew, Cadet Peter Preston,
signed on for a training voyage that unexpectedly became a real and dangerous
mission ("The Wrath of Khan"), and until Preston's death resulting from damage
inflicted by the hijacked USS Reliant, he showed every intention of doing the
family line justice.  When the Enterprise returned from this incident ("The
Search for Spock"), she was scheduled to be decommissioned.  Scotty was promoted
to captain and made chief engineer of the experimental, transwarp-driven USS
Excelsior, but old habits die hard, and Scotty answered Kirk's call to take the
Enterprise out of dock - without authorization - to return to the Genesis planet
(but not before sabotaging the Excelsior's "superior" drive - so, for the
record, he may not be popular with the crew of absolutely every ship he has
served aboard).  It's obvious that no one took note of how gleefully Scotty
performed this task, because the crew returned in a captured Klingon Bird of
Prey and saved Earth from a probe whose curiosity was damaging the planet, and
only Kirk was punished for his actions, his judges deciding that the other
members of Kirk's crew had only followed orders!  The Enterprise having been
destroyed over the Genesis planet, Scotty now had to take on the tremendous task
of getting another ship into shape, the more advanced NCC-1701-A.  He did,
however, hold it together fairly well throughout "The Final Frontier" and "The
Undiscovered Country," the latter of which was the final mission of the original
Enterprise crew.
   Scotty, reluctantly retiring from Starfleet and deciding to make his home at
a retirement colony, was aboard a fateful mission of the transport ship Jenolen,
which encountered a massive artificial structure at the edge of known space,
which responded to normal communications by trying to drag the Jenolen inside.
The ship instead was grounded on the surface of the structure.  With limited
supplies and no immediate help in sight, Scotty and the one other survivor of
the crash-landing took part in Scotty's most dangerous experiment to date:
locking the ship's transporters into a diagnostic loop and beaming themselves in
circles until help arrived.
   As it turned out, help did not arrive until 75 years later, in the form of
the fifth starship Enterprise, commanded by Captain Jean-Luc Picard.  Scotty was
recovered from his last-ditch effort, but the other Jenolen survivor could not
be recovered.  Scotty suddenly had to contend with the thought of not only
reaching old age, but doing so decades beyond his own time.  He finally managed
to find an opportunity to work some of his old magic - by helping Enterprise-D
engineer Geordi La Forge recover the damaged Jenolen - and proved that his skill
wasn't entirely lost on the 24th century.  In appreciation of his efforts, and
to give him a means of once again meeting life on his own terms, the crew of the
new Enterprise gave him a shuttlecraft in which he now freely roams the universe
of his own distant future.


Ŀ
 SISKO, BENJAMIN  -  biographical profile  (DSN)              updated Jan. 93 

   Up until roughly stardate 44001.4, Benjamin Sisko was serving aboard the
starship Saratoga, accompanied by his wife and their son.  But at that time, the
Saratoga, along with 38 other starships, were assigned emergency combat duty.
Their mission was to stop, at any cost, a Borg vessel approaching Earth at warp
speed, which had assimilated the captain of the USS Enterprise and used his
tactical knowledge of Starfleet to defeat his own vessel's attempt to halt the
Borg's onslaught.  None of the vessels ordered to stop the Borg at Wolf 359
survived, and over 11,000 people died, including Sisko's wife Jennifer.  Sisko
and his son Jake escaped the Saratoga's destruction, hoping that some last-ditch
effort by Starfleet would destroy the attackers who had annihilated his ship,
most of its crew, and his wife.  The Borg were stopped, sure enough, but the man
whose information - unwillingly given to the Borg - allowed them to penetrate
Starfleet's defenses survived.  Over time, Benjamin Sisko came to regard
Jean-Luc Picard as personally responsible for the outcome of the Borg attack.
   For three years, Sisko turned down new assignments, serving at the Utopia
Planitia shipyards (which, by coincidence, is where the Enterprise was built,
according to the "Booby Trap" episode of "Next Generation").  Assigned to take
charge of a Starfleet administrative team placed in control of Deep Space 9,
Sisko contemplated resignation, concerned about moving impressionable Jake into
the seedy environs of the station.  But the experiences he goes through in the
wormhole ("Emissary") convince Sisko that, at last, it is time for him to move
on.  Uneasily reconciling with Picard, Sisko took back his statement that he
might resign, and remains in command of the station with Jake in tow.  On the
purely side, Commander Sisko's father was a gourmet chef, and his talents
apparently run in the family - or, at least, Sisko tried his best to make it
seem that way when he asked Jennifer out for the first time.


Ŀ
 SISKO, JAKE  -  biographical profile  (DSN)                      unavailable 



Ŀ
 SPOCK  -  biographical profile  (TOS/TNG)                    updated Feb. 93 

   Born to Vulcan Ambassador Sarek and his human wife Amanda Grayson, Spock grew
up with the stigma of being only half-Vulcan.  His only sibling, a full Vulcan
brother named Sybok who had been born to Sarek from his first wife, did not
attain the emotional balance most other Vulcans sought to achieve and was
virtually excommunicated from Vulcan society for the "crime" of embracing
emotionalism.  Spock, in the meantime, struggled with his own identity and later
joined Starfleet (to the chagrin of Sarek) as a science specialist.  Eventually,
Spock rose to the position of chief science officer on the Enterprise under
Captain Christopher Pike, and remained on the ship when command was handed to
the younger and often more emotional Captain Kirk.  Though Spock tended to be
confused by Kirk's humor and predilection for emotional judgment, they, along
with Dr. McCoy, became fast friends.  Spock's relationship with McCoy could fill
chapters of its own, but it can best be summarized with the simple facts that
the two men's extremes of emotion - Spock's total repression of feelings, and
McCoy's embrace of them - caused arguments, some serious, some not, and even
though Spock seemed incapable of laughter, he always knew - just as well as
McCoy did - which arguments were which, and usually added a touch of his own dry
wit when appropriate.
   After the Enterprise returned from its five year mission, Kirk received a
promotion to admiral and took the position of Starfleet Chief of Operations,
and Spock retired to take on the Vulcan discipline of Kolinahr, the purging of
emotion.  An emergency mission to intercept a vast entity which was approaching
Earth brought both Kirk and Spock back to the Enterprise again, and after this
incident, Spock apparently remained in Starfleet, and was promoted to captain of
the Enterprise until Kirk encountered Khan, a criminal who had been exiled by
Kirk after an attempt to hijack the Enterprise fifteen years earlier ("Space
Seed").  Spock sacrificed his life to allow the Enterprise to escape the lethal
detonation of the Genesis terraforming device.  His body was ceremonially
launched in a photon torpedo casing to a nearby planet which had received the
full effect of the life-inducing Genesis wave.  Spock's father Sarek, however,
informed Kirk that a Vulcan's spirit can be passed on to another if the body is
close to death, and McCoy's mind had unknowingly become a vessel for Spock's
thoughts.  Kirk took McCoy and the Genesis-rejuvenated body of Spock to Vulcan,
where Spock was returned to his own body and McCoy was freed of his mental
burden.  Spock, however, would never be the same again.  Re-educated by
computers on Vulcan rather than by his human mother, Spock almost seemed more
alien than ever, but had begun to regain his personality by the time the new
Enterprise (the original having been stolen and sacrificed by Kirk in his quest
to recover Spock's body) encountered Sybok and his followers.  Spock refused to
join Sybok when given two chances, and later watched his brother perish in a
battle with an entity that tried to pass itself off as God.
   Spock also volunteered Kirk and the Enterprise to escort Klingon Chancellor
Gorkon to a peace summit, but that mission, like many others, went awry due to a
conspiracy between Klingon, Romulan, and Federation warmongerers.  Feeling some
remorse for his part in the nearly disastrous turn in interstellar affairs,
Spock was last seen - in his 120s or older on "Next Generation"'s "Unification"
episodes - on Romulus, attempting to gain support for a reunification of the
Vulcan and Romulan races, who had shared a common ancestry centuries in the
past.  But he took this mission entirely on himself, without the permission or,
until it was nearly too late, the knowledge of the Federation.  Spock stayed on
Romulus, where his presence is known, but he remains in hiding with a loyal
underground following of Romulan pacifists.


Ŀ
 SULU, HIKARU  -  biographical profile  (TOS)                     unavailable 



Ŀ
 TROI, DEANNA  -  biographical profile  (TNG)                 updated Nov. 93 

   The half-human, half-Betazoid Troi is usually quiet, but that doesn't mean
that she hasn't got some important bit of information to impart.  Her empathic
ability (full Betazoids can read thoughts and send them; Deanna can only read
emotions) is useful in most situations, but not all of them.  While Troi can
detect deceit or discomfort, her abilities don't tell her the whole story.  If
someone can focus their mind enough - as was the case with Ardra in "Devil's
Due" - or if they have an unusual cranial structure, such as the Ferengi, Troi
has to rely on external cues as much as the next person.
   Among Troi's more notable achievements are helping Ambassador Riva of
Ramatus continue a peace negotiation between warring parties on a distant world
even after the deaf mediator's translators had been killed by the combatants
("Loud as a Whisper") revealing a hidden plot to hand the exclusive rights to a
wormhole over to the Ferengi ("The Price"), easing Picard's relations with
former Betazoid mental patient Tam Elbrun en route to a first-contact mission
("Tin Man"), helping Picard recover from his ordeal with the Borg ("Family") and
presumably helping him recover from his torture experiences at the hands of the
Cardassians ("Chain of Command" part II), helping Geordi recover from a similar
brainwashing experience courtesy of the Romulans ("The Mind's Eye"), and
discovering the answer to a cryptic alien message just before the crew would
have been driven insane ("Night Terrors").  Although she was a victim of "mental
rape" by a Ulean visitor, Jev (who entered his victims' thoughts and dreams,
taking the place of someone the victim is remembering - in Deanna's case, Jev
took the place of Riker), Troi managed to detect Jev's actions even after Jev
carefully and almost successfully diverted the blame toward his own father.
Troi actually died on one occasion, when her mind was used by Ambassador Alkar
as a receptacle for his negative thoughts and feelings while the visiting
dignitary negotiated a peace between two warring nations.  The link, established
by a ritual Alkar claimed to be a funeral meditation in memory of his mother,
who died on the Enteprise during their visit, remained as long as the
"receptacle" lived.  The recipient of Alkar's darker side, in the meantime, ages
phenomenally (hence Alkar's "mother" - actually a previous receptacle who ran
out of room for his dark side and died).  Troi had to be allowed to die for a
short time so Alkar would attempt to create a link with another companion, but
when she was revived in sick bay, her awakening coincided with the moment of
transference, and the negative feelings Alkar had been relegating to his victims
washed back into his mind, killing him.  Troi was restored to her natural
appearance with no ill effects.
   Troi's most recent notable exploit was that of assisting a handful of Romulan
defectors with the help of undercover members of Ambassador Spock's resistance
movement on Romulus.  On short order and with no rehearsal, Troi impersonated a
member of the Tal Shiar, the secret police/central intelligence agency of the
Romulan Empire; apparently, she played the role well enough to intimidate the
willful commander of a Romulan Warbird through most of a dangerous plan to get
the defectors to safety in Federation territory.
   Deanna is the daughter of Ian Andrew and Lwaxana Troi; her father was a human
Starfleet officer who died when Deanna was very young (no cause of death has yet
been stated for his death), and her mother a full-blooded telepath with some
manner of regal status on Betazed.  She had a sister named Kestra who died in an
accident at seven years of age, when Deanna was only a baby.


Ŀ
 UHURA  -  biographical profile  (TOS)                            unavailable 



Ŀ
 VULCAN  -  sociopolitical overview                           updated Oct. 93 

   And what would any glance at the alien societies of "Star Trek" be without
at least a cursory examination of the Vulcans?  As soon as Leonard Nimoy first
appeared in "The Cage," it was obvious that there was something very different
- and, some would say, strangely magnetic - about those human-like beings with
the pointed ears.  On the planet Vulcan, an arid world with no satellites (see
footnote below pertaining to scenes in "The Motion Picture") and little water,
the Vulcan race started out as savages with a tremendous capacity to learn,
which allowed them to develop technology before, as Spock has said on numerous
occasions, they had the wisdom to use such advantages judiciously.  Among these
technological wonders was a deadly weapon known as the psionic resonator, which
received violent impulses from its targets, amplified them and fed them back at
the victim with deadly force ("Next Generation" episode "Gambit, Part II").  A
Vulcan named Surak, tired of bloodshed and hatred, found that he was more at
peace with a philosophy of total logic untainted by the snap judgements common
to emotions.  This doctrine obviously held a great appeal to many other Vulcans,
and is now the key belief of all inhabitants of Vulcan.  The historical epoch at
which this philosophy was embraced en masse by the Vulcans is referred to as
"the Awakening."  Presumably, this was also when the psionic resonator was
dismantled into three pieces by the authorities and entrusted to the museums of
Vulcan, though this did not prevent a later attempt to reassemble it.  Those who
either choose to retain a predilection for emotion or simply cannot control
their emotions are usually outcast on Vulcan, such as Spock's half-brother Sybok
(born to Spock's father Sarek from a full Vulcan wife who died soon afterward;
Sarek later married Amanda Grayson of Earth and they bore another child, Spock).
On the other hand, however, a reportedly rare disease known as Bendii Syndrome
may attack the mind of a Vulcan more than 200 years old and weaken their mental
restraint, gradually ending the Vulcan's life by ignominiously forcing his or
her hidden emotions to the surface violently.  At some point, possibly when
conflicts ceased to be of interest to the people of Vulcan, a group of rogue
"savages" left Vulcan and became the Romulans.  Spock has mentioned that the
two races share common ancestors, but more recently, especially in the
"Unification" episodes of "The Next Generation," it has been hinted that the
Romulans actually splintered off from Vulcan society early on.  In the seventh
season episode "Gambit," it is revealed that there also exists a group of
isolationists on Vulcan who advocate the expulsion or, failing that, elimination
of all elements on the planet that originate from other worlds.  Vulcan security
is aware of this element and continues a search for the members of this faction.
   The possibility of a parallel but entirely separate race like Vulcans cannot
be completely discounted, however, for a race of "proto-Vulcans" on Mintaka III
(encountered by Captain Picard in "The Next Generation" story "Who Watches the
Watchers?") seemed to be evolving toward a philosophy of logic, similar to the
teachings of Surak, without any external influences.  But the people of Vulcan,
by the time of Captain Kirk and the Enterprise, had become very important
contributors to the Federation.
   Vulcan physiology and "mysticism" seem to be linked together to a great
degree.  Every seven years of his life, a Vulcan male experiences an intense
mating drive during which he may revert to a savage frenzy until he reaches his
mate.  Vulcans are also endowed with telepathy, especially among one another,
though their abilities to contact the mind are not limited solely to Vulcans.
With the correct training, Vulcans can "mind-meld" with any creature, any
species, making direct mind-to-mind contact, overriding language barriers and
cultural barriers and allowing the Vulcan to read directly the thoughts and
feelings of the subject.  (This does, however, presume that the creature with
whom the Vulcan mind-melds is not deadly to the touch or protected by a force
field - a detail Spock obviously overlooked in "The Motion Picture!")  In "Star
Trek VI," it was clearly implied that the idea of performing a mind-meld on a
person who has not given permission is as repulsive to Vulcans as the thought
of rape is to humans.  And when a Vulcan's physical body is damaged beyond the
ability to immediately sustain life, a Vulcan can transport his or her very
essence - the katra - into the mind of another being, preferably a close
associate and someone who knows what to do with the Vulcan's "soul" from there.
When the "dead" body has been repaired, the body and the carrier of the katra
must be taken to Mount Seleya on Vulcan, where the nearest local Vulcan High
Priestess can place the katra back into its original body.  There are great
risks in such a transposition, however - McCoy, when carrying Spock's katra in
"Trek III," was on the verge of schizophrenia, leaping back and forth at random
between the doctor's usual emotionalism and Spock's personality.  It was also
stated by the High Priestess that the removal of the katra from McCoy's body and
the return of that spirit to its original body was dangerous to the carrier.
   [A little incidental note regarding scenes in "Star Trek: The Motion
Picture": it was said, as early as the original series' first season, that
there was no moon of Vulcan.  Yet, when we first see Spock in the first film,
he is apparently on the Vulcan equivalent of a pilgrimage to Mecca in pursuit
of the completion of Kolinahr - a purge of all emotions, the highest awareness
that a Vulcan can reach.  Spock has arrived at the place of the Vulcan Masters,
adorned with colossal, ancient statues and the eroding remains of a palace or
temple.  And what should we see hovering low in the sky above Spock and his
mentors, but two very large objects bearing a great resemblance to planets or
moons?
   Perhaps this could be easily explained away with what we know of Vulcan
history.  Surak, as it has been said many times before, was the first Vulcan to
embrace emotionlessness.  But in our own "savage" history, it has been all too
common for seekers of peace - Gandhi, Christ, John F. Kennedy, John Lennon (to
name a few that this author could pull off the top of his head) - to be
considered out of touch with reality, and some have become reclusive.  Surak,
perhaps, hoped that his beliefs would appeal to other Vulcans tired of conflict,
and assuming that space travel had been developed by Surak's time (which is not
unreasonable since the Romulans - originally a faction of Vulcans or
proto-Vulcans staying true to their warlike urges - probably left soon after
peace settled in on Vulcan), he may have made a journey to a nearby planet in
Vulcan's solar system and set up his "practice" there, and other Vulcans
followed afterward to embrace total logic.  Maybe this other planet has two
large moons in low orbits, thus accounting for the scene in "The Motion
Picture."]


Ŀ
 WORF  -  biographical profile  (TNG)                         updated Jan. 94 

   Born in the Klingon Empire after or near the time the Federation and the
Empire finally reached an agreement, Worf is the son of Mogh, a well-known
warrior in his day.  Separated at birth from his younger brother Kurn - now a
respected fighter in his own right, but remaining with his fellow Klingons -
Worf traveled with his parents to the Khitomer.  A Romulan attack destroyed the
outpost on Khitomer because the father of Duras, a Klingon traitor who would
later press charges against Worf's family ("Sins of the Father" and several
other episodes) lowered the defenses.  Worf returned to the Klingon planet to
challenge the accusation, but found the High Council to be involved in the
cover-up of the truth and had to accept discommendation, admitting fear of the
Council's judgment (had his challenge been failed, which it would have been had
Worf not withdrawn, it would have cost him his life) and the removal of his
honor in the eyes of all other Klingons.
   Worf later discovered that an earlier encounter with his former half-human,
half-Klingon lover, K'ehleyr (in "The Emissary" and "Reunion"), had resulted in
a child, Alexander.  In a desperate attempt to cover his past actions when
K'ehleyr discovered the truth about Worf's discommendation, Duras murdered her.
In a rage, Worf made an unauthorized visit to Duras and killed him in cold
blood.  Worf then sent Alexander to Earth to live with Sergei and Helena
Rozhenko, the humans who had rescued Worf from Khitomer and raised him as their
own child on Earth (although in "Heart of Glory," Worf says he grew up on a
farming colony called Gault; perhaps he spent time on both), and their own son
Nikolai, who later enrolled in Starfleet Academy, but left to become a cultural
observer ("Homeward").  Helena visited Worf on the Enterprise a year and a half
after he first visit, bringing Alexander back with her.  Experiencing difficulty
growing up and discovering the concepts of honor, honesty and loyalty, Alexander
initially caused some minor problems on the Enterprise once he was enrolled in
the ship's school.  Worf decided that Alexander would have to be sent off to a
Klingon school, but then offered the boy the chance to stay with him and prove
himself by overcoming the even greater challenge of growing up among humans.
Alexander acccepted, and remains on the Enterprise with Worf.  Worf later was
paralyzed in an accident on the ship, but a new process developed by Dr. Russell
("Ethics") allowed him to regain control of his muscles.
   In the sixth season's two part story "Birthright," information was given to
Worf by a Yridian stranger on Deep Space 9 that Mogh, the Klingon's father, had
in fact been taken hostage during the Khitomer attack and was now incarcerated,
after all these years, in a Romulan prison camp located on a planet in the
Neutral Zone.  Worf, after much deliberation, embarked on a mission to discover
whether or not this was true.  As it turned out, Mogh had never been captured at
Khitomer, though a friend of Mogh's was indeed a resident in the camp, which had
ceased to be a prison and had become the one place where any Romulans and
Klingons lived in peace and cooperation (possibly the first such place since
Nimbus III, if one chooses to count that failed experiment as a cooperative and
peaceful venture).  The residents of the camp, some of whom had married and had
half-Romulan, half-Klingon children, were unlikely ever to be accepted by either
of their respective cultures again, and their children less so.  In exchange for
their anonymity and obscurity, the residents of the camp released Worf, as well
as permitting their own children to leave the planet if they so decided.


Ŀ
 YAR, NATASHA ("TASHA")  -  biographical profile  (TNG)       updated Nov. 92 

   Born on Turkana IV, a human colony whose government collapsed under the
weight of overgrown urban gangs, Tasha Yar had to learn to defend herself at an
early age.  She occasionally mentioned avoiding the planet's rampant drug abuse
and rape gangs, and eventually her parents were killed in gang battles, leaving
Tasha to look after her younger sister Ishara.  When a chance to leave Turkana
IV presented itself, Tasha left, but Ishara decided to stay and become a member
of one of the planet's cadres.  Picard first saw Tasha when she led a rescue
team from another ship through a minefield, and while selecting the crew for
the Enterprise's maiden voyage, Picard requested her to be assigned as chief of
security.  Tasha served aboard the Enterprise ably until the crew's encounter
with the entity known as Armus on Vagra II.  Armus killed Tasha simply to show
the crew that he could kill one of them at his leisure, and the damage was too
severe for Dr. Crusher to resuscitate her.  Worf was appointed chief of security
and Tasha now remains only in the crew's memories.
   In the third season's "Yesterday's Enterprise," however, the emergence of
the Enterprise NCC-1701-C - thought to be lost 23 years before the 1701-D's
mission began - from a rift in time caused the present Enterprise to enter a
parallel timeline in which the Federation was at war with the Klingons and
Tasha Yar was still alive, well, and serving on the Enterprise.  When the time
came for the Enterprise C to return to the rift, restoring the Enterprise D to
her regular timeline, Tasha, after being told by Guinan that she had, in fact,
died a meaningless death on Vagra II, transferred to the Enterprise-C and
returned with that crew to the past.  The Enterprise-C was captured by Romulans
and the crew was to be killed, but a Romulan commander took a liking to Tasha
and allowed her fellow crewmembers to live in exchange for her agreeing to
marry him.  The "alternate" Tasha also had a daughter, Sela, by the Romulan.
When Sela was five years old, Tasha took her and tried to escape, but Sela
cried out and Tasha was captured and executed.  Sela, having now gained a high
rank in the Romulan Empire, was presumably told many stories about the crew of
the Enterprise by Tasha, as she once captured Geordi and used a brainwashing
technique perfectly suited to him because of his VISOR implants ("The Mind's
Eye"), accurately predicted Picard's return to intervene in the Klingon civil
war ("Redemption"), and anticipated that Data would not be suspicious of
Romulan activity ("Redemption" part two), although Data surprised everyone by
not taking the bait.
   Probably the most famous reminder of Tasha is her seduction of Data in "The
Naked Now."  Although she told him "it never happened" after the intoxicant
that put her in an amorous mood was eliminated, Data later said that he and
Tasha spent further time together ("Legacy"), and the android also keeps a
holographic portrait of Tasha ("The Measure of a Man," "The Most Toys").



    All text in this file (c)1993, 1994 Earl Green unless otherwise noted -
   see the file READTHIS.TXT for acknowledgements and distribution site info.

