Lieutenant Commander Leothon Rook
Name Leothon Rook
Position Chief Operations Officer
Rank Lieutenant Commander
Biographical Information
| Gender | Male | |
| Species | Trill (Joined) | |
| Affiliation | Federation Star Fleet | |
| Date of Birth | July 2364 | |
| Place of Birth | USS Galaxy |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 6-1 | |
| Hair Color | Black | |
| Physical Description | Middling height and lean, with a sharp face, and of course the usual spots. |
Character Background
| Overview & History | = Personality = Rook has a strong work ethic and great attention to detail, with a willingness to take chances and get his hands dirty. For better or for worse, he isn't afraid to speak his mind, and can sometimes come across as a bit condescending and abrasive. He would say that his greatest weakness at this point is a managerial one, as so far he's only had to lead relatively small departments and has a hard time balancing hands-off supervision with an urge to micro-manage = History = Leothon Rook was born aboard USS Galaxy to two career Starfleet officers. He spent the first nine years of his life in space. During the build-up toward the Dominion War, he and his mother relocated to live with her family on the planet Ithaca, located on the coreward frontier near Ferengi space.Once a quiet frontier world, the expansion of the Federation had turned it into a bustling port complete with a starbase supporting regional exploration missions. During much of the war, it also became a stopping point for convoys from the northern half of Romulan space bound for the front lines. As such, Rook continued to be exposed to many alien cultures. He excelled in school and his test scores earned him a slot as an initiate in the symbiosis program, something especially rare for Trill not born on the homeworld. It was no surprise that he applied to Starfleet Academy. He was torn between potential career paths, as his mother was a scientist and his father a pilot, but eventually chose the technical track and majored in computer science, with a focus on machine intelligence and holographics. His choice of field would later prove to be a controversial choice. Shortly before his graduation date, androids at the Utopia Planitia shipyards revolted and hijacked the planetary defenses. In the aftermath, research and production of 'synthetic life' was banned by the Federation government, and Starfleet was forced to cancel most of its exploration programs to focus more on internal needs. Federation assistance to Romulus was also suspended. Rook seriously considered leaving Starfleet and seeking a position with a private institution or member world fleet, but after consulting with friends and family, his lifelong dream to be a Starfleet officer won out. However, his vocal opposition to these policies - out of uniform, of course - was unpopular with many officers and he suspects it may have affected his later career. This tragedy was also somewhat offset when he was chosen to receive the Rook symbiont, whose previous host had been his docent during his candidacy His first posting was as a junior operations officer aboard USS Yokohama, an Akira-class starship. While certainly an impressive ship from a tactical standpoint, there was part of him that resented that fact, especially since the ship was essentially confined within the Federation's borders. His crewmates often found him a somewhat cranky and dour coworker for the first couple of years aboard. Over time, though, he found that the ship was very busy as the collapsing Romulan empire caused turmoil that didn't respect blobs on a map. Many privateers and pirates had a tendency to hop back and forth over the border, and others like Ferengi marauders tried to take advantage of vulnerable refugees. Rook received a commendation during this period for playing a key role in finding a lost and disabled starliner, which had drifted into a nebula while fleeing pirates. He was able to isolate its distress signal as it bounced around the obscuring gasses and helped plot a course to its true location. Rook was next assigned as the assistant chief operations officer aboard USS Vallejo, a California-class starship. Despite it being a small and relatively unglamorous posting, he found it surprisingly rewarding, not just because of the added responsibility but because in a time of limited exploration second contact had in a low-key way become much more important. Helping planets set up interstellar communications or modern waste recycling systems might sound boring, but it was a chance to constantly see how other worlds designed technology and incorporated it into their societies, often in more depth than he might have during a first contact. Not all missions were straightforward, either. When an accident at a research facility caused a temporal fissure, he was one of the few people aware the ship was stuck in a time loop and was instrumental in fixing the situation. Finally, Rook's hard work paid off and he was assigned to exploration duty, now aboard USS Carina. He is now determined to make the most of it. |
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| Service Record | 2381-2385: Starfleet Academy - Operations Track 2385-2389: USS Yokohama - Junior Operations Officer 2390-2393: USS Vallejo - Assistant Chief Operations Officer 2394-2396: USS Vallejo - Chief Operations Officer 2396: USS Carina - Chief Operations Officer |