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

Msafiri Bakari is a security officer and the current acting station commanding officer on Deep Space 17. Bakari was the highest ranking survivor of DS17 from the Vaadwaur occupation of 2387.

Backstory

Bakari was 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.

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.

SIM

• "Uninvited Guests" - SD 238711.02 (Bakari's Introduction)

Additional Information

• Bakari is a PNPC created by Tenzin Zhou.