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, although his command role is now greatly diminished as the senior staff of the USS Independence-A has assumed most command duties for the station. 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, 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, the other 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.

Additional Information

• Bakari is a PNPC created by Tenzin Zhou.