Tatash

USS Blackwell
Tatash
Position	Strategic Operations Officer
Rank	Lt. Commander
Species	Gorn
Gender	Male
DOB	235706.18
Age	44
Birthplace	Ghdar
Awards & Service Ribbons First Contact Ribbon Prometheus Ribbon Explorer's Ribbon Silver Lifesaving Ribbon Good Conduct Ribbon Captain's Commendation TOSMA Gold Lifesaving Ribbon Distinguished Service Ribbon 1-year Member Innovation Ribbon Semper Fidelis Award Scotty Cross Pathfinder Award Purple Heart Joint Meritorious Unit Award Peacekeeper Service Ribbon War of Shadows Ribbon Diplomacy Ribbon Q Award

Lt. Commander Tatash, a Gorn, is currently the Stragetic Operations Officer on board the USS Blackwell, part of the Andaris Task Force

	Statistics

• Full Name: Tatash Ssiolassh (Pronounced Soo-lash)

• Race: Gorn

• Date of Birth: 236006.18

• Place of Birth: Ghdar

• Age: 35

• Gender: Male

	Appearance

• Height: 7’3”

• Weight: 353 lbs

• Eye Color: Yellow

• Skin Tone: Blueish/Green scales

• Birthmarks, Scars: Following the crash-landing of his Valkyrie fighter onto the now destroyed USS Albion, Tatash was left horribly injured. Heavily scarred from many lacerations across the left side of his body, he doesn't make any particular effort to hide them.

• Build: Muscular, broad. Hulking rather than agile.

• Face: Long snouted for a Gorn. He has a lot of teeth on display as well, like a caricature of an old earth Crocodile.

• Carriage: Slow moving and quite reserved, he moves with deliberate steps with very little superfluous motion.

• Poses: Usually finds himself with hands clasped behind his back, or at an attention pose thanks to many years of drilling.

• Taste in Clothing (when off duty): Simple. Jeans and a sweatshirt, nothing flash or fancy.

• Handedness: Right

• Voice: Deep, commanding. The translator still stubbornly refuses to get rid of the characteristic hiss on the 'S', he's just learned to deal with it.

• Prosthetics: His left arm has been replaced following a traumatic amputation in a fighter crash. Feeling that fake scales looked 'cheap and tacky', the replacement is matte black and decidedly machine-like.

	Personal Details

• On-Base Quarters: Sparse but comfortable. A few framed photographs of various accomplishments hang off the wall along with his service record. Traditional swords (both his Gorn sword and Marine saber) are mounted above his bed.
  

  Tatash's Quarters

• Residence: Tatash has a large apartment in the upmarket Nuova Eleganza sub-district of Starbase 118. While he usually rejects the trappings of luxury, he felt that after all the hard work put into the Starbase and it's protection that perhaps a single treat of a decent home was warranted after all. He visits as often as he can.

• Hobbies and Interests: Tatash loves to spar in the stations 'Bat'leth' 'training centre', which in reality is a low key gladiatorial arena for settling scores or proving ones strength. He also enjoys (to many peoples surprise) a good night out and dancing, even if he's pretty terrible at it. He also enjoys cooking and tends to assume command of any BBQ in the vicinity.

• Personality: He's very professional on duty, typically Gorn when it comes to his work ethic although that doesn't stop his cutting sense of humor coming through. Off duty however he tends to surprise people with how laid back he can be, enjoying good company (and good booze if he can find some!). Surprisingly even tempered despite his fearsome appearance, it takes a lot to make him angry and he tends to make a good, devoted friend to those that earn his trust.

• Command Style: He doesn't like to micromanage. He feels that junior officers reporting to him should be capable enough to make their own calls, with him to support and advise. Failures despite hard effort are met with a pat on the back and a promise to find the lessons learned. Failures due to incompetence are met with stern punishment.

• Limitations: Speed, or a lack of. He can’t keep up with a decent athlete, preferring instead to rely on his massive strength to find solutions. He also does not have a great deal of dexterity or technical knowledge beyond defensive and offensive systems and weaponry. He could be considered computer illiterate beyond basic Academy knowledge.

• Wealth: Following a mining venture with his Brother, Tatash was bought out for a significant amount of Latinum that has left him quite well off, although a large chunk of that money has been spent on his apartment and furnishings.

	Family

• Father: Talash

A veteran General in the Gorn Ground Forces, Tatash's father has always been an inspiration to drive him, pushing him through the challenges he faced in his younger years with a harsh, but fair hand. Talash always pushed Tatash to do his best and to hone his abilities. Sadly, in recent years Talash has suffered numerous bouts of poor health, however thanks to his two sons investment, a Romulan doctor was hired that has managed to bring Talash a much healthier and prosperous retirement.

• Mother: Ssiruo

His mother has been the wiser one when it came to bringing Tatash up, giving him the ability to be empathic towards those who suffer. It was Ssirou that inspired Tatash to devote his life to the protection of others rather then allowing his father to push him into permanent soldiering, something which has always been a point of contention between the two.

• Siblings: Talash Jnr. (Brother)

Tatash's brother, the proverbial black sheep. While their father and Tatash chose to follow the martial career, Talash has been quite successful carving out a career as a trader. There are however many, many rumours and claims from various sources that he's actually smuggling contraband in his customised freighter and he does tend to 'fall into' wealth far too frequently. As expected he doesn't quite see eye to eye with Tatash, but they have an amicable relationship.

	Background

Pre-Starfleet

Tatash has always been following a military career. While the Gorn are a civilised race, their culture still adheres to old traditions of being born into roles based on lineage. He has strove to do well by his father and serve within the Gorns fearsome ground military forces (the GGF).

Inducted as an officer he was deployed to Cestus III after a few years cutting his teeth in heavy operations as part of the Kings Shocktroop Regiment he peaked at the rank of Major, one of the key officers in charge of planetary security. It was here that he was introduced to the human colonists, and found that both Gorn and Human had managed to exist peacefully (after a brief conflict many years ago) and indeed build up a culture of mutual trust and friendship.

Cestus III

When the brief conflict between the Federation and Gorn exploded in the mid 2380’s, Tatash was thankfully not part of it. Indeed, he strove to ensure that Cestus III was left well alone, ensuring (along with other officers) that the Colonists were treated as an independent faction rather than part of the Federation. This was agreed in earnest, to protect interests on both sides and to prevent a large scale skirmish becoming a situation of total war.

It was this exposure to mankind and other races within the Federation that prompted the Hegemony to 'volunteer' him for a diplomatic exchange program. One Federation officer was chosen to serve within the Gorn military arm, while Tatash was chosen to start from the ground up in Starfleet Academy in order to try and mend some bridges between the two powers. While older then most other cadets, his front line experience gave him a large advantage playing 'catch up' with the younger trainee's.

Starfleet

The Academy was actually an enjoyable experience for him, once people got over the initial culture shock, he found that he had made some good friends fairly easily. It was inevitable though that some resentment still remained and Tatash has always been cautious about getting too close to more senior officers that may remember or have lost men in the conflict between the two powers.

The transition was difficult, after all Starfleet was a lot more relaxed then the rigid hierarchy of total obedience that existed within the Gorn forces. He has however grown to understand that the more pliable structure is far better for adaptability and letting individuals shine beyond their posting.

His service on the Columbia and the Avandar has helped him grow rapidly from a self-imposed outcast to finally being able to open up to those around him. The kindness he was shown on board both ships created friendships that were tested in hardship and in celebration, ones that he will carry with him for the rest of his life.

Now he continues to serve with distinction on-board Starbase 118 itself as part of it's Marine force. Unique challenges ensure he remains challenged and lets him continue to improve his own abilities. While it's a lot different to a traditional posting on a Starship, he's rapidly starting to enjoy the Starbase more then his previous postings due to not only the people, but the whole society that's built up on board.

With a thousand marines now under his command and the responsibility of keeping an entire space station safe and secure for the thousands of people aboard, he's finally returned to his original calling of doing good.

He's managed to achieve everything he'd left behind on Cestus, regaining his former rank and forging a career that would make any officer proud. Now at last, the only thing left for him to do was to strive and improve himself even further to surpass anything he'd achieved before. One life left behind and a new, better one taking it's place.

	Mission Logs - Current Posting

Starbase 118: Marine Commanding Officer.

Dish Served Cold:Following his transfer from the USS Avandar as the advanced ship was took in for mothballing following several technical issues, Tatash found himself rapidly in the thick of the action manning (temporarily) the Tactical console of the USS Albion as she stared down a renegade Starfleet officer. The battle left Tatash severely wounded following a console explosion, and the Stormcrow utterly destroyed. However, disappointingly, the fugitive eluded capture.

Tribble & Strife: Begrugingly, Tatash agreed to take part in the festitivies celebrating the Tribble Fanciers Assocation regular gala. It was here that he first met Baylan Anders delightful parents, and very quickly found himself in deep water trying to fend off numerous advances from Mrs Anders. As an almost welcome distraction, the Tribble conference rapidly became a fiasco of the highest order with several tribbles genetically engineered to deploy a sleeping toxin among the stations general populace. Eventually, the little beasties were driven back through superior firepower. The responsible party managed to escape capture by finding passage to Tilanna V, a neighboring world. Not a stunning highlight to Tatash's career, but at least Tribbles smell better when lightly burned by a plasma grenade.

All Time High: Following a brief respite the Crew were called to Tilanna after the gruesome discovery of a crucified Boris Malinov. What should have been a standard deployment ended in a running battle to protect the governmental compound of the planet against rebellious criminal forces. It had been the first time for many of Tatash's men on the battlefield and while losses were sustained the performance of his Regiment was undeniably impressive. Following the brief conflict, Tatash maintained a cordon around the governmental district until a vague bomb threat was received. With too much at stake Tatash withdrew his forces, choosing instead to take the opportunity to see where the enemy would strike from in the perceived lull. It was after this brief period that his mettle was truly tested as he and Captain Raisillius performed an extraordinarily dangerous high altitude, low opening parachute insertion to rescue and extract a pinned-down away team. They suceeded, and left several high-powered demolition charges as a leaving present for the drug production factory.

Once More, With Feeling: Finally taking time to visit his family and enjoy actual bonafide leave, Tatash returns to discover that most of the crew have ended up trapped in the Holodeck being toyed with by the devious Channel. Within moments of his arrival, Tatash ordered the doors melted off the hinges in order to offer external support to the beleaguered team. What followed was a strange occurrence of Intelligence Officer Vondaryan being phased out of real space. With a surprising amount of recollection from his Academy days where he'd enjoyed theoretical physics, a plan of action was implemented by the team that managed to rescue the stricken officer as well as discover a whole new form of particle. As intrigue unraveled, responsible enemy agents were tracked to the Dungeon and subsequently to the Below, an area of the station off limits and a haven for slavers and other degenerates. Tatash ordered Captain Hughes to enter with a small team for reconnaissance which ended with Hughes being killed by an automated weapons turret, a consequence of a poor choice that will haunt Tatash for the rest of his career and acted as a stark reminder that every decision can have terrible consequences if rushed.

The Show Must Go On: Following what had been a miserable and trying time for the Gorn, there was a glimmer of hope as the inter-planetary legend Lady Shadonna announced her grand musical tour, starting with Starbase 118. As a quiet fanboy, Tatash was overjoyed until the shuttle carrying her and other senior officers went missing. Manning the Tactical console of the USS Albion, the Excelsior class ship was launched to find out what had happened. Rapidly, she was engaged by two Corsair-class Orion frigates, but through careful tactical manoeuvring and two well timed Quantum torpedo's the two ships were disabled and captured, their crews dragged on board for imprisonment. While handling the prisoners, the Albion once more engaged and successfully disabled the D'Kora class Marauder holding the famed popstar and his colleagues, leaving Tatash with the enjoyable task of preparing the criminals for their inevitable penal colony stays.

Dig Two Graves: After numerous Klingon border colonies were attacked, Tatash stayed with the rest of the crew aboard the USS Albion on what could well be a suicide mission, to defeat and destroy the captured D'Deridex-class Warbird taken by the traitorous Captain Arrhimen. Their companion ship the USS Avalon suffered a terrible fate leaving several escape pods in need of rescuing after she was brutally destroyed, with Tatash taking command of what was left of the Avalons fighter contingent in an effort to protect the few crew that had escaped alive. It was then that his makeshift squadron was ambushed by hidden Romulan drone units in a viscous dogfight. Just as it looked like the Albion had given them the upper hand with fire support, his fighter was hit, forcing him to make an extremely damaging crash landing. It cost him his left arm, shattered bones and many horrible shrapnel wounds leaving the downed Marine to start the long road to recovery and rehabilitation.

Rendezvous at Raskor: After the horrible injury sustained, Tatash started the long road to recovery hoping to find a bit of relaxation on Raskor as the other senior officers worked at taking Kinney to task for his consistently botched orders. Still, the poor Gorn found himself once more having to step in to foil an assassination attempt, but it served as a reminder that despite his own hardships he still had a firm dedication to duty and due process. It gave him back his confidence, and reminded himself that he was still a capable officer despite his disability.

Terminal Velocity: Tatash worked on getting himself back in the flight seat, volunteering to accompany an Ambassador on the race as part of her racing crew. In the end, the ship they were piloting ended up being disqualified due to it's sheer amount of technical wizardry. That left Tatash at the mercy of one of the stations most vile, crusty old women known as Wannis as he forced himself to play along with her advances in order to siphon as much information as possible. As regrettable as the situation was, he found redemption in her arrest even if the sheer mental trauma was almost too much.

Edge of Glory: There would be repercussions for the Gorn following the previous mission as one of the arrested parties logged a major protest towards the Federation. Sal Taybrim and himself were dragged through the mud back on Raskor, until that is Starbase 118 was attacked and Tatash led a daring rescue mission. After boarding 118 in secret, Tatash and his small team destroyed the central computer core to stop it falling into enemy hands before rallying a defence in the Hub. The invaders were repelled, through a mix of firepower and ingenuity, until all that remained was a demure and captured Chennel. As Tatash led her towards the brig, she made a move to escape and the Gorn swiftly ended her life. Many simply called it self defence, but deep down, Tatash thinks of it as an execution.

	Professional Record

• Date Graduated from Academy: 239108.18

• Prior Experience: Heavy Assault Operations, Counter Terrorism Training, Hostage Rescue, Artillery Spotting.

• Major: Starship Security. Boarding Operations. Evasive Starship Actions.

• Minors: Ship to Ship Combat Protocol. Naval Game Theory. Multi-Species Combat Intelligence.

• Current Rank: Major

• Current Assignment: Andaris Task Force

• Current Duty Post: Strategic Operations Officer

• Weapon Proficiency: Melee weaponry (Vss'Nok/Vss'Kot Bladed Weapons) / Type II & IIIa/b Phaser Rifle, Type 33 CQB Carbine. Note: Due to Tatash's large hands, Type I Phasers are near unusable due to their small size. He can wield usually mounted assault weapons by hand in dire situations.

	Service History

Service Record
Insignia	Rank	Dates	Posting	Assignment
	Cadet First Class	239108.18	Graduated Starfleet Academy	Security
	Ensign	239108.18 - 239205.03	USS Columbia	Security
	Lieutenant JG	239205.03 - 239207.26	USS Columbia	Security
	Lieutenant	239207.26 - 239208.06	USS Columbia	Chief of Security
	Lieutenant	239208.06 - 239211.15	USS Avandar	Chief Tactical Officer
	Lieutenant	239211.15 - 239212.21	Starbase118 Ops	Tactical Officer
	Captain	239212.21 - 239302.01	Starbase118 Ops	Marine Liaison
	Major	239302.01 - Current	Starbase118 Ops	Marine CO

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