Tristam Core
Commander Tristam Core (pronounced /traɪstɛm/) is a Rodulan engineer assigned to the retrofit of Copernicus Station. A components specialist, Core is an expert in communication and transportation technologies. He known for his work on the Shoals 3G network and the MST project.
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Personality
Tristam Daneil Core is considered something of a whimsical genius. A Rodulan, he is highly dramatic about the smallest of things. What 'regular' humanoids consider an over-reaction is typically Tristam's standard reaction. His movements are over-emphasised, typical of Rodulans from the Myiron area. He is quick on his feet and far from single-minded, often seen whizzing around his workplace thinking about dozens of things at once—some of them often unrelated to his current task. He struggles to adequately communicate his technical thoughts and often uses metaphors and colloquialisms to get his points and ideas across.
Despite the Rodulan consideration of his age (abnormally young to be given the responsibility of major technical projects), Tristam is highly dependable and is a trusted mentor. He struggles on a day-to-day basis with his sleep schedule, needing a minimum of eleven hours, but the standard work shifts aboard most Starfleet installations aren’t equipped for this. There have been days where he is 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. He will often express concern for his fellow officers, trying to keep everyone on track in times of stress.
Tristam is highly telepathic, though others are incapable of hearing his thoughts. He still considers those around him as aliens, often curious or confused about the confines of their culture or identity. He often glimpses the thoughts of those around him, but to avoid causing harm, he refuses to engage others in the full use of his abilities, only using basotile to exercise his telepathy. However, because of his powerful capabilities, he sometimes cannot control what he hears, and he becomes ashamed of himself upon learning information or details of which he was not meant to know. His ability to hear someone’s deepest inner thoughts has proven problematic for him, as he sometimes cannot understand the difference between someone’s fleeting inner monologue and their true overall intention.
Rahman: What you’ve done here, Tristam, is nothing short of miraculous. How you’ve managed to keep this station from falling apart from the slightest sneeze...
Core: Yeah, I think I was sent here to test my sanity.
Rahman: Well, consider it finished then. Your nightmare is over.
Core: Oh? Because this is essentially war against a tiny survey station - I’ve got a small crew of about twelve people, and the station is much bigger than all of them put together. The stabilizers? Cobbled together with engine parts from our civilian crew’s ship and a thruster from our shuttle - which, you’re never getting back by the way. Sorry.
Rahman: Yes, I would not be surprised if more of this station is parts-from-ship than station.
A pacifist, Tristam downright despises 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. He rarely carries a phaser, unless the need for its use as a tool arises. Tristam enjoys working with technology and is happy to get his hands dirty and fix something. He believes the job is 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. Some note on many occasions that Tristam spends more time thinking than speaking. Yet, when he does speak, it is often long-winded ramblings.
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 to the confusion of others, but he is more than happy to explain his references when prompted.
Personal spaces
As an engineer, Tristam spends significant time in 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 chessboard can still be found scattered on a coffee table.
Appearance
Tristam often appears as a slightly dishevelled, his 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.
Gallery
With Roshanara Rahman
Living quarters aboard the USS Invicta
Happy holidays
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 compared to his brother. Gamighan enlists the help of Guan Medledore, a renowned engineer and 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 a negative response by the board. Told that he was too young and naïve by Medledore, and frustrated that his people were too frightened of leaving Rodul to join the galactic community properly, Tristam abandons his plans to venture into the transportation field of engineering, opting to prove to himself that a young Rodulan could be capable of living a comfortable life off-world. But the incident would leave its permanent mark on him, and Tristam would refuse to work with engines for as long as feasibly possible.
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 he manages with his father’s help. Gamighan introduces him to an off-duty Starfleet medical officer, whom allows Tristam a few moments to look at her tricorder. Intrigued by the technology and its being significantly more advanced than any general scanning equipment he’d yet seen, he begins 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 Kobayashi Maru test. Before entering the Neutral Zone, he evacuates his ship and faces 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 to be his crew. However, he did not keep track of his personnel, and they are ambushed in their shuttles and escape pods, taken prisoner or destroyed as Tristam left them defenseless to spatial attack. Meanwhile, his daring plan to rescue the civilian vessel fails, and Tristam attempts to warp with a severely damaged warp drive (of which he would have known, had he still had a bridge crew). It destroys his vessel. Tristam looks back on the incident as being an absolute disaster.
After graduating Starfleet Academy, Tristam is placed aboard the USS Pioneer as an Engineering Officer. He is promoted to Lieutenant JG a year later and reluctantly broadens his Engineering knowledge by learning more about the Pioneer's propulsion systems.
2387
Roshanara Rahman is assigned to the Pioneer as a Research and Development Engineer. Having heard of her technical capabilities and expertise in propulsion engineering, Tristam outright introduces himself as disliking propulsion, describing how transwarp beaming would be a more effective long-term tool in the face of warp drive. Intrigued, Rahman asks Tristam to join her research team, and the two work together on the first iteration of the Quantum Slipstream Drive.
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 a panic, Tristam (armed 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 doesn't, however, think to just manually open the door.
Research and development of the slipstream drive draws to a close when the Pioneer sets a trial date for the engineering team to reach. Under the supervision of Admiral Kjær, Rahman initiates the test slipstream drive, but the EPS flow dips below suitable levels, and a cascade of devastating failures occur across all systems. Against Chief Engineer Meran's advice, Tristam attempts to correct the problem, but he is caught in an explosion on the lower level of Engineering, and is severely injured. Tristam loses his natural telepathic abilities, and almost his left leg. He is transferred for emergency treatment to Medical Starbase 358, and placed on a medical leave of absence for eleven months to recover.
Mostly recovered and free from medical leave, Tristam is stationed aboard Deep Space 17 as an Operations Officer. He is involved in a "scuffle" regarding misaligned circuitry with a superior officer—and though the matter is resolved, Tristam remains under the watchful eye of Msafiri Bakari. Three weeks later, Tristam almost blows out an entire deck of the station whilst working with plasma conduits, but quickly repairs any would-be damage.
2389
He is promoted to Lieutenant in 2389. Asked to mentor new students of the engineering department, Tristam reluctantly takes on cadets Vian Nova and Ukaramesh Blanufic—but he grows to enjoy the partnership he developed with Blanufic in particular.
Tristam becomes involved in a hostage situation and is (once again) locked inside a room. 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 following this incident when Tristam is offered a promotion to Lieutenant Commander in late 2390. He initially attempts to decline, not pleased with the prospect of rising in the ranks at such a young age, but Msafiri Bakari convinces him to take it.
2391
After three years of working aboard a station, Tristam is transferred to the USS Vigilant-A as Chief of Operations in 239104. Because the ship is equipped with a perfected quantum slipstream drive, he's required to take a crash course on its operation aboard the Vigilant. His efforts become futile when he is inexplicably reassigned again barely three weeks into his tenure aboard the Vigilant to the USS Garuda—at the request of the Galaxy class's chief engineer Roshanara Rahman.
Tristam, along with the Garuda's First Officer, Chief of Intelligence, Commander Tan, ex-Captain Kells and Lieutenant DeVeau, is assigned to assess a mud dome threatening the Eth people of Bocasa. It leaves them stranded for an unknown reason on the planet of Pleethion with a jamming field that blocks their communications (and any communication signal). Tristam is able to rig a remote control for the Galaxy class ship using his communicator, a PADD and two tricorders. He is able to successfully gain the attention of the unsuspecting Garuda by blasting "I'm a little teapot" through the speakers around the ship and flashing the lights. Having used the technique for a third time, Tristam muses that he'll call it "The Tea Pot maneuver". Tristam would also find a source for part of the dampening field in Commander Tan's tricorder.
Commander Rahman is able to successfully bounce back (and create a working communications link) with Tristam via his crudely made engineering concoction. Unfortunately, seconds beforehand, Tristam sets 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 attempts to walk Lieutenant DeVeau through disarming the mine. DeVeau finds the mine could make the situation with the mud dome much worse, while Kells believed it may assist with the situation. Regardless, the mine is inadvertantly set off, and they rush the team back aboard the ship. Unfortunately, a mine hooks into Commander Tan's leg, of which Tristam successfully transports it away, much to Rahman's distaste.
Tristam finds a perfectly intact surveillance camera in a Jefferies Tubes junction, of which had access to some major security systems, and watches with the Garuda's Chief Security/Tactical Officer as Rahman deactivates 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 wishes to question her. Unable to trust the new Security officer, Tristam seeks his good friend Lieutenant Commander Bakari, and the three questioned Rahman in her office, DeVeau also present. Rahman turns herself in for the sabotage.
On stardate 239107.27, Captain Egan Manno gave Tristam the position of Acting Chief Engineer. She also awards the Diplomacy ribbon on stardate 239108.03 with the rest of his crew for their efforts on Pleethion.
Tristam is part of the two teams sent aboard the presumed rogue vessel USS Mercury. As the Mercury isn't completely powered, he, DeVeau, Trel'lis, Douglas and Delano make their way to the ship's primary computer core to correct power flow. Once there, he realises that the ship's power problems are due to its being redirected to a part of the ship of which is no longer attached (the Mercury's sensor module). He is unable to relay this when an explosion occurred near the team's position. There were some serious injuries, including most of the team incurring head traumas, and Tristam with a scapula fracture—unable to use his left arm.
The team make their way to the Mercury's Strategic Operations for a lack of safer areas aboard. Once there, they find internal sensors are no longer functioning. Tristam blacks out, regaining consciousness with no recollection of how he'd gotten aboard the Mercury, and is 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 splits 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 changes his plans, and the reduced team of three make 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 are disrupted by a holographic version of Rahman, taking DeVeau hostage. Rahman is then thwarted by a holographic version of Mei'konda. Throughout the entire exchange, Tristam falls into a state of shock, his ability to function as an Engineer compromised.
In the remaining minutes, Rahman sends him to a lower deck to manually restart a main sequencer segment. The holographic Rahman follows him, physically intervening and causes him further injury. With only little time left, Tristam resorts to using a phaser to distract the hologram—in doing this, he also ensures the holograms "death". With only seconds left, Tristam is able to restart the sequencer. In pain, shock and mentally worn down, he is finally beamed directly to the Garuda's Sick Bay with the real Roshanara Rahman.
Tristam wakes in Sick Bay on stardate 239109.23. He is promoted to Chief Engineer on stardate 239109.24. He is also awarded a Good Conduct Ribbon, a Purple Heart, and a Captain's Commendation on stardate 239110.09 for his efforts on the Mercury.
2392
On stardate 239203.08, Tristam is 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 spends 15 days in a Peppalexan jungle with no word from the Garuda‘s crew. They are found by Lt.Commander Mei'konda's away team, and despite the three being separated, the Garuda's crew are able to beam them back to the current timeline.
Tristam is 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 clashes with Harrison Ross, who they'd believed to be planning to harm those in the gathering. After escaping from a locked maintenance shaft with Hanar Tuk, the team tries to capture Ross to no avail—and, as a result, Rahman accidentally beams an innocent civilian into the Garuda's Brig. The team is split yet again. Shandres, Mei'konda, DeVeau and himself are kidnapped by another group of Va Wreth and held against their will. An attempt to escape ends with their group being found by Va Wreth allies, and they are escorted to Astrofori 1's medical facility for treatment.
On stardate 239206.20, Tristam is transferred to the USS Invicta.
After a handful of years creating the concept, Starfleet's Corps of Engineers green-light 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.
2393
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.
2394
The Starfleet Corps of Engineers assign Tristam to the crippled Outpost 3 in late 2394, to assess and repair the damage caused by a pirate attack. With the help of a civilian repair team led by Molly Ashaba, and young crewman Kolby Selrus, he reclaims the outpost’s lower decks, making them liveable. The project stalls temporarily when Crewman Selrus’ arm is crushed under a falling bulkhead. Because medical supplies will not arrive for some time, Tristam has to create an anti-gravity brace for his arm.
Tristam gives Captain Rahman a tour of the functioning levels of Outpost 3 when the USS Veritas arrives. However, Rahman initially deems the project to be a total loss, citing how the amount of materials used could have built an entirely new station in the time they’ve spent renovating this one. As he tries to persuade her to reconsider, they stumble upon a stash of felicium. Repairs are again put on hold for the Veritas crew 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 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 a Klingon patrol boards Outpost 3. 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 runs low on its supply of deuterium, Tristam finally asks the Veritas for help. The transfer of deuterium proves problematic later however, as the Veritas would be called away for an emergency, resulting in dangerously low deuterium reserves on the ship’s return trip home.
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 the 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. It irritates him for only a few days, before reconciling with her and attending Mei'konda and Evan Delano’s wedding on Esperance. Here, the two agree to put their relationship first, and Roshanara reassigns Tristam to the Veritas permanently.
2395
Tristam is aboard the Veritas when Kallo Ver asks for the crew’s help in tracking down a lost Romulan “treasure fleet”, and joins Luna Walker, Alex Blair, and Hanar Tuk aboard a Romulan Warbird found in the Shoals—however, they are trapped in a cargo bay upon arrival and could not provide much help to the other teams aboard the warbird.
Still tasked with improving communications in the area, Starfleet sends Tristam to Kidman I to complete construction of a relay station on the colony world—he also helps develop new water reclamators for the small settlement Bupirninyirring in his spare time. Just after installation of a critical component, the settlement 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.
When a temporal anomaly produces the younger selves of Roshanara and Mei'konda, Sky Blake informs Tristam of the incident. She tells him not to speak to Roshanara, fearing his over-reaction and inability to handle an encounter with her (given the strong possibility they cannot revert them back to their former selves), but he ignores her advice and meets with Roshanara late at night, vaguely catching her up on events that occurred. Though he does not inform her of their relationship, he refers to his present Roshanara as his partner, vaguely describing her in his eyes when prompted. He details his fear to Roshanara that he might not get her back (the current-day version of her), the young Roshanara tells him to have faith in her, not realizing they are both referring to herself.
Later, when the Veritas is stuck 600 years in the past, Blake asks Tristam to “babysit” a Borg infection taking place in the ship’s sensor dome, but he is distracted by an Omega symbol locking the ship's systems down. Roshanara contacts him with Timothy Alentonis, tasked with building a harmonic resonance chamber for Omega molecules. They construct what eventually turns out to be a molecule vacuum cleaner, though to use it for its designated purpose, they have to push past several Borg drones aboard the ship, resulting in Tristam’s creating a carrier wave power-down for the drones in proximity, caused by a false command from a perceived collective. Eventually, back in 2394, LtCmdr Rahman returns to her time of origin, and the true Roshanara Rahman returns to the ship once more.
In September, work on the MST project halts unexpectedly due to the limits of current-day technology. His disappointment is quickly set aside by the disappearance of a Veritas away team that includes Tasnim Shandres, Roshanara’s ward. But he senses Anjar Thoran’s struggle to keep a level head as the ship’s acting Chief Engineer—and when he gives the engineering staff conflicting orders, Tristam pulls him aside to briefly counsel him, chastising his attitude toward the staff.
Tristam is present during the group meeting regarding the missing teams, concluding that a quantum surge redirected the transporter losing all team members. Though affected by Tasnim’s disappearance, Tristam works with the teams to locate her—and despite being limited by professionalism, he does his best to console Roshanara during the meeting. He works with Geoffrey Teller to convert solar power into useable energy for the EPS relays, using his premature designs for the MST project as a guide. As they rip up a transporter pad, he schools the new engineer on the “shortcomings of warp drive”. The experiment is a success, and they recover all crew members from their mysterious location—though Tristam’s first instinct is to baby Tasnim to the best of his ability.
The following shore leave, Tristam drops by Tasnim’s shared quarters. When she admits to him she feels out of place because of her youth, he relays to her that all officers and enlisted crew are on the same level of professionalism aboard the Veritas, regardless of age. He laughs when she calls herself a "dork," and states that aboard a Starfleet vessel, all engineers are or were dorks at some stage. She rebuffs this by stating that her ‘dorkiness’ comes from her lack of experience in this universe (of which she’s not native). Of the many things she has yet to experience, one of them is swimming, and Tristam gives her a swimming lesson in the Veritas pool.
Lael Rosek calls Tristam in for a meeting about ‘goal setting’ and his performance for the following year which confuses him (as he is aboard in a specialist role, as dictated by Captain Rahman). Mistakenly believing the conversation was regarding his report about Anjar Thoran’s behaviour during Rosek’s disappearance, he asks if Rosek is attempting to bribe him to change his report, having somehow thought the two were in a relationship. Rosek corrects this assumption.
In late 2395, the Veritas suddenly loses all its deuterium reserves and must be evacuated, prompting the crew to crash onto Limbo. He looks after young Ayden Blake until reuniting him with his mother. As Blake breaks down, Tristam consoles her but asks about Roshanara’s status and whether she made it off the ship. Blake confirms that she did, much to Tristam’s relief. He then urges Blake to take command of those assembled (as she is the ship’s second officer) until such time they reunite with the rest of the crew. Tristam dismantles the escape pods in case more equipment is needed and prioritises the creation of water reclamation units. A week later, Tristam’s search for other communications on Limbo proves successful, and Blake goes out in search of other members of the crew.
2396
As a celebration of the 'new year', Tristam brings a recovering Roshanara Rahman to a clearing on Limbo. He shows her the USS Veritas, frozen in time in the sky. He believes its hull is intact, a reminder that though they've been stuck on Limbo for over two months, they will eventually return.
Tristam makes "basic mechanical adjustments" to Jhalib Ekal's CRI brace in preparation for an escape attempt. Despite technically being it's original inventor according to Ekal, the vulcanoid man is extremely hesitant about his time-travel equipment being strewn across a workbench. Tristam tells him to leave in order to continue working undisturbed.
During their temporal escape attempt, Tristam works with Roshanara, Sky Blake and Jansen Orrey when a storm hits. As works to jumper-start an escape pod in order to move it and save crewmembers trapped inside, he picks up on Blake's internalized pessimism and becomes frustrated with her. Blake realises it's because he's listening to her thoughts, and scolds him for it. But as time goes on, the thoughts of his crew become more intolerable for the Rodulan. He admits to Roshanara how he's become a "walking lock-box of information about other people", privy to inner-most thoughts and motives becoming increasingly difficult to untangle from his own. Understanding Tristam's disillusionment, Roshanara promises to figure the problem out beside him.
When they return to the timeline, and Veritas is under repair at Star Station Esperance, Tristam and Roshanara celebrate the proper new year at a rooftop bar. They discuss Tristam's sudden telepathic sensitivities. When Roshanara suggests contacting his family for information, Tristam informs her they're no longer on speaking terms. She doesn't pry into the issue further, though suggests taking shore leave on Earth to see her family instead. He whole-heartedly agrees with the idea, but their conversation is cut short when Tristam sees Geoffrey Teller.
Tristam pulls Teller from his small gathering with G'var and Wil Ukinix. The Rodulan bluntly informs Teller he knows about the human's tattoo caricature of a naked Roshanara on his arm (which he implies to know about from Teller's thoughts). Tristam refuses to tell Roshanara directly, though expects Teller to take responsibility and be more mature as Veritas Chief Engineer. Teller informs Roshanara himself, then goes to Tristam with a peace-offering, discussing Tristam's telepathic knowledge in a little more depth.
Though hesitant about the project, Tristam works with Veritas engineers when upgrading the ship to a Warp XV engine.
While in Main Engineering, Tristam is among the engineers caught in inverted gravity and works with Buyisiwe Mncedisi to fix the problem. They both manage to walk away from the incident with minor injuries, having dropped almost two stories in the open-plan Main Engineering.
Holidaying on Earth with Roshanara and her family, they are visited by Jatann claiming her to be the long-lost Nadira. After returning to Veritas, they discuss going to Krios with Nic del Vedova. Tristam encourages Roshanara to hear out the Kriosians, in spite of the suspicious timing of their appearance but suggests he can come up with a starship-related emergency if necessary. He also expresses dismay when she suggests taking a Ferengi casino ship to travel there.
Much to Tristam's disapproval, Veritas participates in a race. The ship moves up several positions before entering the pass, but disaster strikes as a subspace funnel opens almost directly in the path of the racers, swalloing Veritas and depositing the ship into a region of subspace the crew refer to as 'The Void.' During the panic, Tristam 'hears' Tasnim Shandres thoughts as she frets over a missing fifth-grader, but he is unable to alert anyone lest he violates her privacy. Regardless, Tristam informs Wil Ukinix Veritas is "dead in the water"—he works with Tahlin Alse to at least re-power the universal translator. He and Alse get later work on the ship's life-support systems. When he reunites with Blake and Ukinix, they discover the ship's power-drain is being caused by a massive organic being out in space siphoning the ship's electricity. Tristam calls it a "giant light thingy", prompting Blake's disapproval. Roshanara then has Tristam join Jansen Orrey, Ukinix, Alse, and del Vedova on a space-walk to their rival racer Star of Corinth, similarly in distress. He grows quickly tired when Ukinix trades insult with the Corinths technically-Chief Engineer, Putrika. When they are unable to re-boot the Corinth, Tristam suggests striping the ship for parts. They return to Orrey and del Vedova, stumbling upon the Corinth's second officer Grellin slipping Orrey's phaser from its holster. As Orrey dispatches Grellin by knocking her out cold, Tristam and Ukinix hit the deck (a mild over-reaction, but nothing unexpected from the Rodulan). He refers to Orrey's actions as "unnecessarily violent", and becomes frustrated with the attitude the crew displays from their rival racers. They are forced to escape from the ship, taking as many stripped parts as they can carry, and the giant light being crushes the vessel.
2397
Now on shore leave, C'lem Phan'ta'Go interrupts Tristam's sleep (while on gamma shift) and asks him to join Wil Ukinix and Addison MacKenzie on the holodeck. He is greeted by the Sky Blake hologram and abruptly shuts it off. Shocked by her reactivation by Ukinix's hands, Trisatm explains to the officers she is akin to a computer virus, capable of controlling her own activation and movement. Happy to leave her in a permanent state of deactivation, Tristam and Ukinix argue over her status as a thinking, feeling life-form. MacKenzie decides to use the program's biometric information as a base to reconstruct the real Sky Blake's spine.
Finally packing for their trip to Krios Prime, Aron Kells arrives on Veritas to inform Roshanara Rahman about Nic del Vedova's injury. A hesitant Kells discusses del Vedova's disability, Roshanara asks him to forward their well-wishes. The conversation changes to the issue of "Nadira" and Jatann, and Roshanara asks Kells to join them on their trip. They depart Veritas, leaving the ship under the command of LtCmdr Jansen Orrey.
Tristam and Roshanara join Orrey and Raissa Moonsong for dinner in the latters quarters. Orrey and Moonsong announce their intention to marry and ask Roshanara to officiate.
Though a few months behind schedule, Tristam finally activates the Shoals 3G network in late September as Veritas enjoys shore leave on Kidman I. He jokes to Ukinix and Charlena Vanlith that his work should earn him a promotion—but his luck would mean it only comes with being assgiend "on the opposite side of the galaxy to work on yet another stationary outpost with similar communications issues." The next day while still in bed, Roshanara muses she's getting old, and Tristam points out she's barely a quarter-way through her life-span. He uses the rest of shore leave to catch up his on sleep debt, but eventually celebrates the achievement with her.
When the crew sends down Vanlith's robotic dog BAXTER to the SS Duncan Dunbar, Tristam becomes concerned for Vanlith's command capability. As she is Assistant Chief Engineer, she is the ranking officer in Main Engineering. Tristam asks her to pull herself together, and that engineers "cannot afford to assume; we troubleshoot. Find the problem, fix the problem, get back online." Vanlith doesn't respond favourably to his advice.
Later, with BAXTER and Veritas safe, Tristam goes to Roshanara with his concerns about Vanlith. He admits to her he is hesitant about 'dobbing' on Vanlith to Roshanara (going over Chief Engineer Ukinix's head), and that she is young and allowed to make mistakes—but he is also worried about her in a command position. Roshanara alleviates his concerns and thanks him for bringing them to her. Ukinix approaches Tristam about the issue afterwards, though the two end up in a minor misunderstanding regarding Ukinix's intended conversation with him.
2398
Tristam attempts to locate Ensign Beylanesh Semu for an update on a suspected black market communicator known as a hexagon device. When he learns she is no longer aboard Veritas, he beams down to Donova IV to find her... only to discover her remains scattered in fertilizer on a farm. He immediately notifies Roshanara Rahman, who brings Kelrod and Tiria Hamasaki to investigate the incident. After significant scans, it's determined Semu was not in fact a real Starfleet officer at all, but a Chameloid posing as one to gain access to the hexagon device.
In early April, Tristam is offered a command position of a station retrofit project that comes with a promotion to Commander. He discusses the idea with Roshanara, hesitant to take a position far from Veritas due to their previous attempts at a long-distance relationship. Roshanara tells him to take the assignment, and Tristam is officially reassigned to Copernicus Station, promoted to the rank of Commander on stardate 239804.10.
Tristam is working around the clock to prepare Copernicus Station when he is contacted by Veritas in the middle of his night, requiring his assistance. Wil Ukinix used the MST project to assist with rescuing a group of miners trapped in the collapsed Russel River Mine, but the experimental technology is putting significant strain on Veritas. Due to the fluctuating quality of the 3G network, he is only able to maintain stable communication with Veritas for an hour—during which he works with Angeline Loupaz on a jury-rigged plan to power the MST without shorting the ship's EPS grid. The pair are successful, and Veritas' engineers immediately put it to work.
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.
Trivia
- When formally addressed outside of Starfleet norms, Tristam will be referred to as "Daneil Core" - Daneil being his title. He was given this term by his mother shortly before her death, assigning the field to him as customary by parents in the Western Gate, giving their child perhaps an angle of education to explore in their expected long life. 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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