Msafiri Bakari

"They don't understand what we've been through. They don't belong here, and they certainly don't deserve to become our new senior staff."

–Bakari, regarding the crew of the USS Independence-A, SD 238711.02

Msafiri Bakari is the chief of security and second officer of Deep Space 17. Bakari was the highest ranking survivor of DS17 from the Vaadwaur Occupation of 2387 and briefly served as the station's acting commanding officer after its recapture by Starfleet through Operation Bright Star.

Stats

• Full Name: Msafiri Bakari
• Species: Human
• Date of Birth: 236003.13
  • Age: 28
• Place of Birth: Colony 1, Martian Colonies, Sol Sector
• Gender: Male

Starfleet Career

• Commissioned: 2382
• Training Facility: Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth, 2378-2382

Starfleet Service Record Insignia Rank Dates Posting Assignment Ensign 2382 - 2385 USS Tycho Brahe Security Officer Lieutenant JG 2385 - 238709.18 Deep Space 17 238709.19 - 238712.06 Chief of Security and Acting CO Lieutenant 238712.07 - 238808.31 Chief of Security Lt. Commander 238809.01 - Present Chief of Security and Second Officer

Appearance

• Height: 196 cm (6'5")
• Weight: 107 kilos (235 lbs)
• Hair Color: Black
• Eye Color: Brown

Tone/Voice

Bakari is a man who, after his time spent during the Vaadwaur Occupation, has little patience for being anything less than direct. He once told his friend Ayelet Kadosh that "patience is a virtue, and I harbor few of those these days." This directness can come off as aggressive, but he is fair in his treatment of others and fiercely protective of those under his command, especially his fellow Federation resistance comrades.

Personal Life

Friends and Notable Colleagues

Deep Space 17

• 

  Lt.JG Ayelet Kadosh

• 

  Staff Sergeant Jennifer Brockton

• 

  Gunnery Sergeant Radi Rais

See also: Members of the Federation Resistance during the Vaadwaur Occupation

• Ayelet Kadosh: A human nurse now residing on Earth.

Kadosh met Bakari during the Vaadwaur Occupation. Then an ensign, she had stayed with a wing of medical staff to care for the station during the attack while most of the remaining medical personnel had evacuated. She was one of only two medical staff members who survived the initial capture of Deep Space 17 by the Vaadwaur. Mistreated and forced to serve the Vaadwaur by taking care of the Federation prisoners with barely any supplies, Kadosh eventually broke free and was taken in by Bakari's resistance group.

After Operation Bright Star and the liberation of DS17 on 238709.11, she and Bakari remained close friends. She briefly served as the station's acting chief medical officer during its reconstruction and then went on to serve aboard the USS Independence-A until its destruction in the mirror universe in late 2388. Afterward, she returned to Earth, where she left Starfleet and took on a teaching position at the university hospital in Tel Aviv.

Though Bakari would consider himself strongly protective of the other survivors, Kadosh often worried about him in the aftermath of the Occupation in the way that an older sister might worry about a younger and troubled sibling. Their friendship was severely strained at one point when the Independence's engineering staff suspected that a saboteur among DS17's staff had been causing damage to the ship. Fortunately, the two made up, and she remains perhaps the only person who does not feel intimidated by him to call him out on his behavior. Indeed, by the time she had left Starfleet, it seemed her influence had done much to soften Bakari's temperament.

• Jennifer Brockton: A human marine who became part of the insurgency during the Vaadwaur occupation.

Stationed to the marine detachment of DS17 since 2382, Brockton became Bakari's second in command during the Occupation following the death of his fellow Starfleet security officer Ensign Levo on SD 238707.24. She served with distinction during her time in the insurgency, and together, they freed additional Federation prisoners and stalled the Vaadwaur's plans to repurpose the station.

Unfortunately, Brockton's partner and former fellow marine Radi Rais was being used by the Vaadwaur to hunt down the insurgency. Rais eventually found the insurgent's hideout on SD 238709.01 and killed Brockton, who had stayed behind with another marine to allow for the others to escape. For her self-sacrifice, Brockton was nominated for the Medal of Honor by Bakari and was subsequently awarded the Federation's highest decoration on SD 238812.13.

• Sian Douglas: A human marine who also became part of the insurgency during the Vaadwaur occupation.

After DS17's liberation through Operation Bright Star, Douglas was promoted to Lance Corporal, although she lost one of her legs and now relies on a prosthetic, though she doesn't let it slow her down.

• Radi Rais: A human marine who was captured by the Vaadwaur.

Rais had been a former marine squad leader on DS17 before his capture during the Second Battle of Eratis in which DS17 fell to the Vaadwaur. The Vaadwaur subsequently subjected Rais to intense chemical brainwashing, and he emerged as a loyal soldier who was used as another weapon of the Vaadwaur Occupation Force to hunt down and kill his former comrades, including his partner Jennifer Brockton. Following his liberation after Operation Bright Star, he had difficulty adjusting back to the daily routine of duty. He eventually checked himself into a pyschiatric hospital shortly before he died on SD 238807.14 of mysterious circumstances.

Early Life and Career

Msafiri Bakari was born on 236003.13 in Colony 1 of the Martian colonies. He attended Starfleet Academy in 2378 before receiving his first assignment to the USS Tycho Brahe in 2382 as a security officer. He was then assigned to Deep Space 17 in 2385.

Deep Space 17

Deep Space 17

Bakari was still a low ranking security officer when the Vaadwaur captured the station in 2387. After the attack and occupation of the station, then-Lieutenant Junior Grade Bakari became the senior officer on the station, a "promotion" that involved witnessing many of his superior officers--his teachers, mentors, and friends--killed or worse. Along with a handful of other surviving Federation personnel, Bakari hid and planned an insurgency. Week by week, they did their best to stall the Vaadwaur's progress, but they were outnumbered and outmatched.

Among those whom he saved was Ayelet Kadosh, a nurse who would become a close friend of his. He promised the survivors that they would not be abandoned, but two months into the occupation, he confided to Kadosh one night that he felt Starfleet had abandoned them all to face death alone.

Post-Vaadwaur Occupation

After Starfleet retook Deep Space 17 through Operation Bright Star, Bakari was named acting station commanding officer, and most of the DS17 survivors slowly became reacquainted with how things worked again in an ordered Starfleet. Kadosh noticed, however, that Bakari seemed increasingly agitated as that sense of order was rebuilt on the station. That agitation had been building up especially after word had quickly spread throughout the station that the senior staff of the docked USS Independence-A was to take over most of the station's leadership positions.

Bakari briefly clashed with Marine Captain Alexandria Somers and her marines from the Independence on SD 238711.18 as the two faced a civilian demonstration against the presence of the remaining Vaadwaur on the station. The crowd on the station's promenade were quickly swept into a riot that required a response from the combined efforts of station security and the Independence marines. During this situation, Bakari took note of the attention Somers paid to his concerns regarding the use of an aggressive stance towards the protesters, most of whom, like Bakari and his security staff, were survivors from the Vaadwaur occupation.

Shortly afterwards, a promotion and commendations for Bakari were finally approved after Starfleet had finished the processing of personnel records from Operation Bright Star. He was promoted to the rank of full lieutenant in recognition of his actions during the Vaadwaur occupation and subsequent leadership of the station's crew in the aftermath. Although offered the chance to become part of the station's command staff as DS17's second officer, Bakari initially declined, choosing to remain among his Starfleet security brethren as the station's chief of security.

On 238809.01, nearly one year after the end of the Vaadwaur Occuption, Bakari was again offered the position of second officer with a promotion to lieutenant commander. He accepted with the condition that he remain chief of security.

In late 2388, months after Bakari had sent in the nominations, he and the surviving Federation resistance members were invited to attend a ceremony in Paris, Earth, where the Federation President was to award the late Staff Sergeant Jennifer Brockton and Corporal Tashaun James with the Medal of Honor.

SIM

• "Uninvited Guests" - SD 238711.02 (Bakari's Introduction)
• "The Many Causes of Tears" - SD 238803.07 (What begins as a warm reunion between close friends turns sour.)
• "Next of Kin" - SD 238808.20 (Bakari finds out about Rais's death.)
• "Open Invitation" - SD 238811.16 (The paperwork finally gets through.)

Additional Information

• Bakari is a PNPC created by the writer for Tenzin Zhou.