Didrik Stennes/Biography
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| Didrik Nikolaj Stennes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| USS Drake, USS Columbia, USS Darwin-A, USS Blackwell | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Tromsø, Norway, Earth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aged | 36 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Species | Human | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gender | Male | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In Memoriam | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The biography of Didrik Stennes covers the major events of his life from his birth in 2360 to the present day.
Early Life (2360–2382)
Didrik Nikolaj Stennes was born on 15 April 2360 in Tromsø, Norway, on Earth. He was the fourth of six children born to Harald Stennes, a correspondent for the Federation News Service, and Hera Guldbrandsen, founder of a charitable organization that worked to rebuild Bajor following its occupation by the Cardassians. His parents' respective work occasionally kept them away from Earth when Didrik was growing up, and he often stayed with his maternal grandparents, Didrik and Tea Guldbrandsen. On a few occasions, however, he accompanied his parents on their travels; he visited Bajor twice with his mother in 2370 and 2371, and traveled to Tellar, Vulcan and Alpha Centauri with his father during the summer of 2373. As a child, Didrik developed a great fondness for the outdoors, something that would remain with him throughout his life. He also demonstrated an interest and talent for writing, and initially wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a journalist.
Didrik's father was reporting for the News Service on Betazed when the Dominion invaded and occupied the planet in 2374, leaving him stranded. From this point forward, Didrik became preoccupied with learning everything he could about the war, its combatants and battles. He followed every development closely, often to the distraction of his school studies, and even built a map of the Alpha Quadrant in his bedroom to track battle developments the News Service reported. By the time the war ended, Didrik had a new focus; he wanted to study Tactical at Starfleet Academy. His parents disapproved of this, as the Stenneses were not a military family.
Didrik applied to Starfleet Academy after he graduated high school in 2378, but his grades didn't match his ambitions and his application was rejected. A family friend (and Starfleet lieutenant) recommended that some further study at a university might strengthen Didrik's application to the Academy, so he enrolled at the University of Bergen as a Military History major. Upon his graduation from the University in 2382, Didrik reapplied to the Academy, and was accepted.
Starfleet Academy (2382–2388)
At the Academy, Didrik was a Tactical major and pursued minors in Navigation and Communications. He briefly wrote for the Academy newspaper and was a member of the junior varsity volleyball team. During his time at the Academy, he demonstrated strengths in languages, combat and psychology, and discovered he was an exceptional pilot, but struggled in the areas of engineering, chemistry and xenobiology. By the end of his second year, his poor scores in these disciplines lowered his grade average such that Admiral Wagner refused to be the faculty adviser for Didrik's junior thesis on the use of guerilla tactics in the last days of the Dominion War.
In the fall of 2384, Didrik began his third year at the Academy on shaky ground. Depressed at his poor performance in some of his core courses and buckling under the stress of trying to catch up, he quickly grew discouraged and disillusioned with life as a Starfleet cadet. He took a leave of absence from the Academy in November 2384, not fully intending to return.
After leaving the Academy, Didrik spent the next several weeks at home in Tromsø, and sunk into a deep depression. To help him recover, his mother suggest he accompany her on one of her trips to Bajor. He agreed, and the two left for Bajor in January 2385. Inspired by the success of the rebuilding efforts on Bajor, but recognizing that much work was still left to be done, Didrik moved to a village in Rakantha Province and began working as a teacher. It was there that he was able to develop the confidence in himself that was missing during his first years at the Academy, and he resumed research and write his thesis in his spare time. Upon his completion, Didrik sent a copy to Admiral Wagner at the Academy, but never received a response. Also during his time on Bajor, Didrik began a relationship with Elrem Tiro, a Bajoran teacher at the school where he worked. By September 2385, Didrik and Tiro were planning a vacation to Casperia Prime, and had also discussed moving in together.
Didrik's leave of absence provided him with the clarity and sense of purpose he'd lost, and his desire to continue his tactical studies was rekindled. In November 2385, he contacted the Academy and applied to be re-admitted. Admiral Wagner endorsed his application, and he was invited to return. Didrik's decision to leave Bajor came as a surprise to Tiro, who offered to leave everything and accompany Didrik back to Earth. Didrik refused, and the relationship ended.
Upon returning to Earth, Didrik re-enrolled in the Academy, resuming his studies in mid-2386. He proceeded through the remainder of his classes at the Academy on Earth, publishing his thesis: "Behavior of the Individual: On the Use of Single-Soldier Guerilla Tactics by the Cardassian Underground During the Dominion War."
Finishing his final series of courses in December 2387 he began his cadet cruise in January 2388. For the first six months, he served aboard the USS Belgrade as she patrolled the Cardassian border. In July 2388, he transferred to Starbase 118 where he completed his cadet training. He graduated from the Academy on Stardate 238811.13, earning a commission with the rank of Ensign.
USS Drake (2388–2390)
Stennes served aboard USS Drake NCC-1987, a Miranda-class starship, from November 13, 2388, until her decommissioning on October 10, 2390.
2388
In November 2388, shortly after his graduation, Didrik was posted to the USS Drake NCC-1987 as helm officer. Immediately after reporting for duty, he was ordered to pilot the shuttlecraft Portebelo on an away mission to a Tellarite orbital facility. He and Lt. Commander Solok were successful in rescuing Lt. Commanders Whale and Danzia, Ensign Luna and Cadet Klaar from the facility, and made first contact with a form of artificial intelligence that inhabited the ring for a short time before disappearing. Although the shuttle sustained heavy damage from the gravimetric distortions surrounding the planet, Ensign Stennes piloted the Portebelo to safety, with the crew suffering only minor injuries.
2389
In early 2389, Stennes and the Drake crew searched the area between Earth and Alpha Centauri for a missing shuttle containing Lt. Commander David Whale. Stennes and Lt. Commander Aron Kells worked together to modify the Drake's sensors and plot the most likely areas to search for the shuttle. While conducting the search, the Drake was pulled into an anomaly and deposited into a previously unexplored dimension later dubbed "null space." With traditional impulse and warp engines unavailable, a network of sails was deployed to the hull to ride particle streams moving through null space, thereby providing propulsion. Stennes supervised the installation of the sails and manually maneuvered the Drake through the streams. Commander Will Rogers ordered Stennes to lead an away team to a nearby planet, where a Gorn ship carrying a cache of dilithium had crashed. Departing the Drake with Ensign Marcus Sung, Chief Petty Officer Jane Van Klaveren, Petty Officer Domane Mint and Crewman Thy'lek, Stennes' orders were to secure the dilithium and attempt contact with another away team already on the planet. During a rough landing, Didrik suffered a lacerated cornea and subsequent globe rupture in his right eye.
Stennes' team successfully located the dilithium inside an unmanned Gorn spacecraft, but while returning to the shuttlecraft, Stennes' came into contact with an atmospheric mist that appears as part of the planet's weather system. The mist alters the genes of living organisms it contacts, leaving Stennes unable to be rescued by the Drake's transporter. After the rest of the away team were beamed back to the Drake, Stennes repaired the shuttle's propulsion system and flew it back into space, where he was tractored aboard and treated by the Drake's medical staff. He was left with a minor vision impairment that thereafter necessitated the use of corrective lenses, but the mist also affected him at the genetic level, leaving him unable to feel pain. Ensign Stennes was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, junior grade, and awarded the Explorer's Ribbon and Purple Heart in April 2389.
In August 2389, while attempting to use temporal phasing to assist Major David Whale and Lieutenant Pandora in accessing the controls of an Ishkarian sensor device, Lieutenant, j.g. Stennes became partially phased himself, and encountered a group of Ishkarians believing they were inhabiting a form of Purgatory. Shortly thereafter, he recruited the help of Captain Aron Kells of the USS Mercury to conduct further research into the Ishkarian system, with the eventual goal of recovering the lost Ishkarians. Stennes and Kells meet irregularly to share developments on this ongoing project, when their schedules permit, in a holoconference linkup between their two ships.
In August and September 2389, Lieutenant, j.g. Stennes was one of many Starfleet officers who served in the Federation's military response to the Klingon invasion of Romulan space. As a crewmember of the USS Drake, he served alongside the crew of the USS Avandar in its defense of Gateway Station. Stennes was promoted from Lieutenant, junior grade, to Lieutenant in October 2389, and awarded the Klingon Campaign Ribbon for his service in the conflict.
In December 2389, the Drake made contact with a space-faring species known to them as Cosmozoa. Lieutenant Stennes was taken from the bridge of the Drake into the body of the Cosmozoa. He discovered a likely connection between the Cosmozoa, the Ishkarian disaster and the phased Ishkarians, and the Drake's prior excursion to Null Space. Because of his previous experience in Null Space, and his knowledge of the Ishkarian homeworld disaster, he joined an Away Team to re-enter the creature and take possession of an ancient beacon the crew was dispatched to locate and reactivate. Lieutenant Stennes temporarily regained the ability to feel pain as a result of his time inside the Cosmozoan, but lost the sense again on the return trip. It is yet unknown whether the condition will be permanent.
2390
In spring 2390, while the Drake was stopped over for shore leave on Ishkaria Prime, Didrik was kidnapped and imprisoned by members of a clandestine terrorist organization called The Path, who were seeking to learn more about the unique circumstances of Didrik's congenital analgesia by subjecting him to invasive medical experimentation. So his abduction would not be noticed, a Path operative was genetically and surgically altered to resemble Didrik and took his place aboard the Drake. Didrik was subsequently rescued, and the Path operative posing as him was apprehended at Starbase 118.
As a result of his injuries and the psychological damage caused by his imprisonment, Starfleet judged him medically unfit for active duty, and indefinitely suspended his commission. He was advised by the review panel to continue attending counseling sessions and pursue civilian opportunities, and that it may be 2-3 years, if ever, before Medical clears for active Starfleet duty.
Despite his ineligibility for service in Starfleet, he quickly found himself assigned to serve back aboard the USS Drake, though in a civilian capacity. During the Drake's stopover at Starbase 118, Didrik was offered a position as an observer for the Federation Accountability and Ethics Office. He was given instructions to observe the Drake's day-to-day operations during its upcoming mission, and report any extraordinary findings back to the AEO. Gratefully accepting the position, Didrik hoped successful completion of his service for the AEO would help in his efforts to be cleared for Starfleet service. Didrik served aboard the Drake in that capacity until her decommissioning on October 10, 2390. He, like the rest of the Drake, was transferred to Starbase 118.
Stennes was posted to Starbase 118 Ops for a short time, beginning on October 10, 2390, and ending on November 1, 2390. While officially still an observer for the Federation Accountability and Ethics Office, the transfer to the massive starbase was difficult for Stennes to manage, having only recently been making progress in therapy to overcome his physical and psychological injuries. Less than a month after his arrival, he left SB118, and would not have any connection with Starfleet for the next 18 months.
Withdrawal and recovery (2390–2392)
USS Columbia and USS Darwin-A (2392–Present)
2392
In May 2392, Stennes began temporary work for the Federation Diplomatic Corps, which was conducting a feasibility study on establishing mobile Federation embassies on certain Norway-, Nebula-, and New Orleans-class starships. For this task, he was assigned to USS Columbia, then under the command of Captain Benjamin Livingston. Stennes arrived on Columbia just as the ship was dispatched on a mission into Romulan space. While his access to the ship and her systems was limited at first, Stennes established a rapport with some members of Columbia's crew, and assisted them in completing a mission involving a reactivated Iconian gateway on a Romulan colony. He assisted engineer Theo Whittaker and helm officer Antero Flynn in devising a plan to use Romulan power generators, which use artificial quantum singularities, to create an implosion, which would destroy the gateway before the Romulans could detect it.
In July 2392, Stennes returned to Starbase 118 with Columbia's crew, unsure of his next destination.
In mid-2392, Stennes left the crew of Columbia and relocated to Deep Space 6. While living on the station, he focused primarily on his continuing recovery, but also completed several university courses which, coupled with his prior tertiary study and first hand experience, allowed him to earn a provisional qualification as a counselor. Shortly after completing his studies, he was recommended by Dr. Linnea Hanadani, his mentor and former therapist, to take a position as a counselor aboard the USS Darwin-A. Darwin abruptly left Deep Space 6 in September 2392 in pursuit of a renegade ship into the Delta Quadrant, to recover a stolen Starfleet quantum slipstream drive (QSD). During this mission, Stennes assisted in the rescue of two Talaxians trapped on a space station under attack by the Numiri. Darwin returned home to Deep Space 6 shortly after.
In late 2392, Darwin returned once again to the Delta Quadrant, but a catastrophic systems failure forced the crew to evacuate to Turisan II, a pre-warp planet in an industrial revolution age of development. The crew covertly lived on the planet for several weeks while awaiting rescue, during which Stennes lived in a flat with several crewmembers: Lyldra, her co-husbands Hars Vlin and Brell and their twin children, and Kurt Logan. Stennes developed a friendship with Brell, in particular, which developed into something more closely resembling a romance, though once the crew were rescued, it was uncertain whether their relationship would progress any further.