Tristam Core
Lieutenant Commander Tristam Core (pronounced /traɪstɛm/) is a Rodulan engineer aboard the USS Veritas. Assigned as a components specialist, Core's focus aboard the Veritas is improving subspace communication within the Shoals, essentially creating a "2G" subspace network.
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History
Early life
Tristam Daneil Core was born to Attraxan and Krzexxi parents Gamighan Core and Meredyn Tjaent, the "older" twin of Taywor Core, a rare case of Rodulan twins in the Western Gate of Rodul. When his mother passes due to complications, Tristam and Taywor are raised by Gamighan and the local community surrounding the small family in Myiron.
As a young Rodulan, Tristam excels in his education, but seemingly without purpose in comparison to his brother. Gamighan enlists the help of Guan Medledore, a renowned engineer and personal friend, to tutor Tristam and direct him toward a path of technology. Though she proves to be a stern teacher, Tristam's interest in the luxury technologies that populate their everyday life grows, and expands to more complex subjects.
Having surpassed expectations of him in his course of biotechnology, Tristam, along with his friend Nygeyan Vale-Caeloi, present an upgraded propulsion drive for Rodulan space shuttles to a board of assessors, providing improved impulse capability which would allow further exploration out past the Betreka Nebula. However, a combination of Tristam's young age and the Rodulans still healing from a joint occupation by the Klingons and the Cardassians provoke an extremely negative response by the board. Told that he was too young and naive by Medledore, and frustrated that his people were too frightened of leaving Rodul and into the unknown, Tristam abandons his plans to venture into the transportation field of engineering, opting to prove to himself that a young Rodulan could was capable of living a comfortable life off-world.
At first, Tristam joins his father Gamighan, whom by this time is a neurologist seeking to better understand the telepathy of other species, on a short trip to Betazed. As Rodulans are incapable of "reading" each other, the shock of "hearing" the thoughts of other people is almost too much for the 19 year old to handle, but with his father's assistance, he manages. Gamighan introduces him to an off-duty Starfleet medical officer, whom allows Tristam a few moments to take a look at her tricorder. Intrigued by the technology and its being significantly more advanced than any general scanning equipment back home, he decides to begin studying for the Starfleet Academy entrance exam.
Starfleet
- See also: Professional history, medical records
Against the advisement of his academy trainers, Tristam took the famed Koboyashi Maru test. Before entering the Neutral Zone, he proceeded to evacuate his ship, and chose to face Romulan warbirds without a bridge crew in the hope to save as many lives as possible and fool the Romulans into believing the civilians aboard his vessel were actually his crew. However, he failed to keep track of his crew, and they were ambushed in their shuttles and escape pods, taken prisoner or destroyed as they were left defenseless from spatial attack. Meanwhile, his daring plan to rescue the civilian vessel failed, and Tristam went to warp with a severely damaged warp drive (of which he would have known, had he still had a bridge crew), and his vessel was left destroyed. He looks back on the incident as being an absolute disaster.
After graduating Starfleet Academy, Tristam was placed aboard the USS Pioneer as an Engineering Officer. He was promoted a year later to Lieutenant JG, and he began attempting to broaden his Engineering knowledge by learning more about the Pioneer's propulsion systems.
During 2387, Lieutenant Roshanara Rahman was assigned to the Pioneer as a Research and Development Engineer, and the two supposedly became friends.
As a Lieutenant JG, the power to Tristam's quarters were cut as a prank played by an Engineer of whom has not yet confessed - locking him in his quarters. In panic, Tristam (with a PADD and a tricorder) used the computer systems in Engineering to draw as much attention to himself as possible, flashing lights, taking over the ships speakers, and changing the language display of the Engineering consoles to Rodulan. He didn't think to just manually open the door.
Seven months after Rahman was posted, an R&D experiment involving her and Tristam supposedly caused multiple explosions in the Pioneer's Engineering department. Tristam was severely injured, losing his natural telepathic abilities and almost his left leg at the same time. He was placed on a medical leave of absence for 11 months to recover.
Deep Space 17
In mid-2388, Tristam was taken off leave, and requested a transfer into an Operations department. Despite this, he was stationed aboard Deep Space 17 as an Operations Officer, but claims that the work is almost exactly the same as it would have been if he was assigned as an Engineer. Within his first week aboard the station, Tristam was involved in a 'scuffle' regarding misaligned circuits with a superior officer. The matter was resolved quickly and maturely under the watchful eye of the station's Chief of Security, Lieutenant Msafiri Bakari. Three weeks later, Tristam almost blew out an entire deck of the station whilst working with plasma conduits.
Tristam was promoted to full Lieutenant in 2389. During this period, he was asked to look after and mentor two cadets as he worked around the station; Cadets Vian Nova and Ukaramesh Blanufic (it should be noted, however, that Nova left the Academy during her time with Tristam). Blanufic remains in contact with Tristam, and is currently the Assistant Chief Engineer aboard the USS Evantair.
Whilst serving aboard the station, Tristam became involved in a hostage situation. Using his experience aboard the Pioneer, he alerted the station's Chief of Security to the situation by flashing the lights and taking over the speakers, using his tricorder.
His time aboard DS17 began to draw to a close when Tristam was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in late 2390. After three years of working aboard a station, Tristam was transferred to the USS Vigilant-A as Chief of Operations in 239104, where he was required to take a crash course on the Vigilant's slipstream drive. He was reassigned again after barely three weeks to the USS Garuda as an Engineer at the request of the Garuda's Chief Engineer.
Aboard the Garuda
Tristam, along with the Garuda's First Officer, Chief of Intelligence, Commander Tan, ex-Captain Kells and Lieutenant DeVeau, were assigned to assess a mud dome threatening the Eth people of Bocasa. Left stranded for an unknown reason on the planet of Pleethion with a jamming field that was blocking their communications (and any communication signal), Tristam was able to rig a sort of remote control for the Galaxy class ship using his communicator, a PADD and two tricorders. He was able to successfully gain the attention of the unsuspecting Garuda by blasting "I'm a little tea pot" through the speakers around the ship and flashing the lights. Having been used for a third time, Tristam plans on calling it "The Tea Pot maneuver" - Tristam later found a source for part of the field in Commander Tan's tricorder.
Commander Rahman was able to successfully bounce back (and create a working communications link) with Tristam via his crudely made engineering concoction. Unfortunately, seconds beforehand, Tristam set foot onto a mine. Having explained to Rahman that beaming up the rest of the away team may set off the mine he was standing on (and beaming engineers down may end up with the same result), he was told he needed to walk Lieutenant DeVeau through disarming the mine. DeVeau found that the mine could actually make the situation with the mud dome much worse, while Kells believed it may assist with the situation. Despite either of these things, and regardless of DeVeau's steady hands, the mine was set off. It was a rush to beam back to the ship (unfortunately with a mine hooked into Commander Tan's leg, of which Tristam was able to successfully transport away, much to Rahman's distaste).
Tristam seems to have some sense of distrust towards the missing Captain Reynolds, believing that, as she is an Intelligence officer, she may have had the means to sabotage the away teams mission. Three jamming signals had been found in the teams tricorders prior to beaming back aboard the Garuda, of which Kells and Tan found to be Cardassian - confirming the worst, Rahman explained that the crew met Reynolds at a Cardassian facility. On top of this, Reynolds also simply "showed up" to join the shuttle team after a disagreement with Captain Egan Manno, of which gave her access to a shuttle (of which Tristam realized she wouldn't have had, had she stayed aboard the Garuda). She also spent several minutes of "quality time" with Tan, ensuring that if a wrong word was spoken against her, Tan would stick up for her no matter what.
He found a perfectly intact surveillance camera in a Jefferies Tubes junction, of which had access to some of the major security systems, and watched with the Garuda's Chief Security/Tactical Officer as Rahman deactivated the systems. Because of the suspicious behaviour, and because Rahman may have been a vital part of the sabotage aboard the Garuda, Lieutenant T'Leia wished to question her. Unable to trust the new Security officer, Tristam sought out Lieutenant Commander Bakari, and the three questioned Rahman in her office, DeVeau also present. Rahman turned herself in.
On stardate 239107.27, Captain Egan Manno gave Tristam the position of Acting Chief Engineer. He was also awarded the Diplomacy ribbon on stardate 239108.03 with the rest of his crew for their efforts on Pleethion.
Tristam was a part of the two teams sent aboard the presumed rogue vessel USS Mercury. As the Mercury wasn't completely powered, he, DeVeau, Trel'lis, Douglas and Delano made their way to the ships primary computer core in an attempt to correct power flow. Once there, he realized that the ship's power problems were due to its being redirected to a part of the ship of which was no longer attached (the Mercury's sensor module), but was unable to relay this when an explosion occurred near the team's position. There were some serious injuries, including almost all of the team incurring some form of head trauma, and Tristam with a scapula fracture was unable to use his left arm from that point onwards.
The team presumably made their way to the Mercury's Strategic Operations due to a lack of safe areas aboard. Once there, they found that internal sensors were no longer functioning. Tristam blacked out, regaining consciousness with no recollection of how he'd managed to get aboard the Mercury, and was unaware of Lieutenant Delano's name. Finding himself more involved in the situation (Delano having discovered that Leo Handley-Page was not, in fact, alive), he split Delano and DeVeau off from the rest of the group in Strategic Operations with the new goal of shutting down the holographic projections.
A com call from the Garuda explaining the dire situation of the Mercury changed his plans, and the reduced team of three made their way to Main Engineering instead, where they were to meet Rahman and at least two others to reboot the computer system and reapply antimatter containment. They were disrupted by a holographic version of Rahman, taking DeVeau hostage, and Rahman was then thwarted by a holographic version of Mei'konda. Throughout the entire exchange, Tristam was somehow forced into a state of shock, his ability to function as an Engineer compromised. In the remaining minutes, Rahman sent him to a lower deck to manually restart a main sequencer segment. The holographic version of Rahman had unfortunately followed him, physically intervening with his input and causing him more injury. With only a little amount of time left, Tristam resorted to using a phaser as means to distract the hologram and get her away from the console - in doing this, he also ensured the holograms "death". With only seconds left, Tristam was able to restart the sequencer. In pain, shock and mentally worn down, he was finally beamed directly to the Garuda's Sick Bay with the real Roshanara Rahman.
Tristam awoke in Sick Bay on stardate 239109.23. He was promoted to Chief Engineer on stardate 239109.24. He was also awarded a Good Conduct Ribbon, a Purple Heart, and a Captain's Commendation on stardate 239110.09 for his efforts on the Mercury.
On stardate 239203.08, Tristam was caught in a time fracture on the Peppalexa homeworld, sending him and Lieutenant Ki Shandres far into Peppalexa's past - meeting Saveron in the same area and time. There, the group spent 15 days in a Peppalexan jungle with no word from the Garuda's crew. They were found by Lt.Commander Mei'konda's away team, and despite the three being separated, the Garuda's crew were able to beam them back to the current timeline.
Tristam was part of a small team of the Garuda's officers to find evidence to prove misconduct against the Va Wreth. When infiltrating a social gathering hosted by the race, the team once again butted heads against Harrison Ross, who they'd believed to have planned to harm those in the gathering. After escaping from a locked maintenance shaft with Hanar Tuk, the team tried to capture Ross to no avail - and, as a consequence, Rahman accidentally beamed an innocent civilian into the Garuda's Brig. The team was split yet again. For a currently unknown reason, Shandres, Mei'konda, DeVeau and himself were kidnapped by another group of Va Wreth and held against their will. An attempt to escape ended with their group being found by Va Wreth allies, and they were escorted to Astrofori 1's medical facility for treatment.
On stardate 239206.20, Tristam was transferred to the USS Invicta.
The USS Invicta
After a handful of years creating the concept, Starfleet's Corps of Engineers green-lit Tristam's MST development on stardate 239212.14, a project to transport whole starships from one section of space to another. He enlists the assistance of Angeline Loupaz and Coalem Garry.
With Commander Rahman's departure from her position for the Corps of Engineers, Tristam was offered to take the role. Instead of taking the position on top of his workload as Chief Engineer, Tristam is now solely stationed aboard the Invicta as the SCE's project manager.
As Kinan Venroe departs for reassignment, Tristam is placed as the Invicta's First Officer on stardate 239305.13. For his efforts in an alternate reality (where the Dominion were the major power) and encountering the USS Ronin-A, as well as participating in efforts to reclaim the Charles Lindbergh, Tristam was awarded the Quantum Reality Service Ribbon and the War of Shadows Ribbon respectively on stardate 239306.08.
Sent to nowhere
By late 2394, Tristam was assigned to the crippled Outpost 3 to assess and repair the damage caused by a pirate attack. With the assistance of a civilian repair team led by Molly Ashaba, and with only a single Starfleet crewman, he had managed to reclaim the outpost's lower decks before the USS Veritas arrives.
After 61 days working on the project, and with minor crew injuries, Tristam and Kolby Selrus give Captain Rahman a tour of the functioning levels of Outpost 3. However, Rahman initially deems the project to be a total loss, citing how the amount of materials used could build an entirely new station. As he tries to persuade her to reconsider, they stumble upon a stash of felicium, and the Veritas crew are forced to investigate.
Tristam meets and works with Lieutenants Lael Rosek, Sepek, and Hanar Tuk as they establish how the felicium ended up on the outpost to begin with. When offered spare parts for use in repairing the station from the Veritas, Tristam declines, stating he couldn't bring himself to take equipment the Veritas may ultimately need down the line. However, a few days into the investigation, a proximity alert around the outpost is triggered, and the small station is boarded by a Klingon patrol. After countering the Klingon breach of the station's computer systems, the situation is resolved.
The Veritas remains a few more days to assist with repairs, though Tristam grows increasingly irritated at the over-arching work ethic of the Starfleet crew, having become comfortable with the casual atmosphere provided by a civilian work crew. When the outpost begins to run low on it's supply of deuterium, Tristam finally asks the Veritas for assistance.
When the Veritas leaves to return to Star Station Esperance, Roshanara stays behind with Tristam to assist with repairs on the outpost, and to reconnect. During this time, they encounter Kallo Ver whom has much needed materials and just "happened to be passing by". In return for the materials on his ship, he asks Roshanara for a single favour to be called upon in future. She agrees, though Tristam likens it to her having sold her soul to "black paint".
Roshanara unceremoniously "kidnaps" Tristam from Outpost 3 long before repairs were due to be complete on the small station. He is irritated about this for only a few days, before reconciling and attending Mei'konda and Evan Delano's wedding on Esperance. Here, the two agree to put their relationship first, and Tristam is finally assigned to the Veritas on a permanent basis.
Still tasked with improving communications in the area, Tristam is sent to Kidman I to complete construction of a relay station on the colony world. Just after installation of a critical component, the small settlement of Bupirninyirring is attacked by a pirate crew, whom infiltrated the relay station. Though unharmed, Tristam was locked in a storage closet, and the critical component he'd finished installing was stolen. Disturbed by the notion that the component may allow the pirates an advantage by improving their communications capability within the Shoals, Sky Blake brings Tristam along to retrieve it - though they are successful, they end up trapped in a malfunctioning escape pod. Using the component as a distress signal, the two are eventually rescued by a civilian crew passing by.
Engineer's Trading Post
It's believed Tristam became one of the numerous contacts for the Engineer's Trading Post during his time on Deep Space 17. When repairs after the Vaadwaur occupation of the station were complete, the Operations department had a surplus of spare parts. With permission from command, Tristam and a few other officers of the department traded these parts with other Starfleet or Federation vessels when docked at the station. More often than not, he received several favours or "gifts" for the parts he traded himself and is apparently still owed these favours today.
Though he is not nearly as involved with the community, he still has many contacts within it, and uses these contacts with the Invicta's Bridge briefing table goes mysteriously missing. He also uses his contacts to obtain Mark V PRP generator, implying that he had duplicated it for use with holographic systems on Invicta, and later the USS Syracuse.
Personal information
Personality
Young and considerably naive by typical Rodulan standards, Tristam has proven to be somewhat of a whimsical genius of his field. He is highly dramatic about the smallest things, as what a 'regular' humanoid may consider an over-reaction is simply Tristam's standard reaction. As such, he is quick on his feet and far from single-minded, often whizzing around main engineering thinking about a dozen things otherwise unrelated to his task.
Despite the Rodulan consideration of his age, Tristam is highly dependable. He struggles on a day-to-day basis with his sleep schedule, needing a minimum eleven hours to function at 100%, but the standard work shifts aboard most Starfleet installations simply aren't equipped for this. There have been days where he is indeed late to a work shift, but the Rodulan will do his utmost to make up for tardiness. His work ethic is indisputable, as once the Rodulan has his mind set on something, it is near impossible for him to simply give up on it - as evidenced by his time on Outpost 3. He is a capable leader, willing to adjust and make exceptions for certain situations, though he has never truly felt comfortable in a leadership role.
Highly telepathic and incapable of having his thoughts read by others, Tristam still considers those around him as aliens, often finding himself curious or confused about the confines of their culture or identity. He does catch a glimpse of the thoughts of those around him, but to avoid causing harm, he refuses to engage others in the full use of his abilities, instead utilizing basotile. He is a pacifist, downright despising violence to the point of racism, seeing the Rodulan people as "above" such barbaric displays, and believes all conflicts should be solved through some form of diplomatic means. To that end, he rarely carries a phaser, unless need for its use as a tool arises.
Tristam enjoys working with technology, and proves to be quite happy to get his hands dirty and fix something, going so far as to call it therapeutic. Often he will use a process of elimination when problem solving, coming up with courses of action or when attempting to explain abnormal things - his head will tilt slightly in a different direction when he considers a different possibility. It has been noted on numerous occasion that Tristam thinks more than he speaks, sometimes to a fault.
Tristam leans towards Rodulan spirituality through a Krzexxi interpretation of modern Artistry (also known as Dikkenism by older Rodulan generations). He uses language derivative of this, generally to the confusion of others, but he is more than happy to explain what he means.
Appearance
Aside from a slight height difference, Tristam is identical to his brother Taywor. Standing at 5'8 feet, with brown hair and trademark rings of tiredness under his eyes due to not getting enough sleep, the Rodulan often sports a scruffy beard, rarely completely shaved (claiming he'd rather not look like a five year old). His eyes are a typical Rodulan black - which often cause alarm among anyone whom have never seen a Rodulan before. He's often required to deal with the shock of fellow crewmates or otherwise, and usually resorts to laughing their reaction off.
Tristam prefers a smart-casual dress sense, often leaning towards a simple pair of pants, shirt and vest. He has a favoured pair of maroon canvas shoes for when he is off duty, wearing them with just about anything (he also claims he only owns three pairs of shoes - the canvas, brown dress shoes and his work boots). His hair is what he likes to call "stylishly messy", both on and off duty (though commanding officers have asked him to 'clean up' on few occasions). On duty, he is always wearing his Engineering cargo pants, for pockets to carry various tools and small pieces of equipment. When working on ship or station repairs, he may often be found without his uniform jacket. At all times, he wears an "Eye of the Artist" - a deep blue, circular pendant that supposedly allows the Artist an eye to where the Rodulan canvas simply cannot extend.
After a severe knee injury, when Tristam stands for long periods of time, he rests most of his weight onto his right leg out of habit. He will also cross his arms when listening to instructions or important information. When his hands and feet are busy, engineering tools may be held between his teeth whilst Tristam works - much to the distaste of engineering tool owners.
Personal spaces
As an engineer, Tristam spends significant time in a starship's Main Engineering during high-importance ship operations. However, when not at red alert or required for other reasons, Tristam takes up a small engineering lab to run tests on potential communications upgrades or for the MST project.
Off-duty, Tristam may be attending functions, fiddling with technological gadgets and gizmos, or catching up on sleep. Since moving in with Roshanara Rahman, his messy tendencies have subsided significantly, though pieces to a three-dimensional chess board can still be found scattered on a coffee table.
Gallery
With Roshanara Rahman
Living quarters aboard the USS Invicta
Happy holidays
Trivia
- When formally addressed by fellow Rodulans, Tristam will be referred to as "Daneil Core" - Daneil being his professional term. He was given this term by his mother shortly before her death, assigning the field to him as most parents in the Western Gate do, giving their child perhaps an angle of education they'd like to explore. Tristam somewhat coincidentally became connected to the technological field, though Meredyn's prediction had little to do with it.
- According to Jhalib Ekal during "Limbo", Tristam would have been one of those killed aboard Veritas had it been destroyed in the 2395 Ekal timeline. This would have prompted the MST project to be shelved, in spite of the equipment he had already designed prior to his death—but it would allow the Temporal Integrity Commission to utilize and retrofit his designs for temporal travel in the 25th century.
- Since Tristam does not die in 2395, his work on the MST project has continued. Whether it's due to his being alive, or because of the further work on the project, the change to the timeline causes the temporal beacons that provide temporal coordinates for Ekal's CRI brace to be erased from existence, effectively locking Ekal away from his home in the 2400s.
NPC Listing · USS Veritas Crew Manifest · Crew History
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