Tristam Core: Difference between revisions

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]], creating a "3G" subspace network.

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 [[Shryker, Jade|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, [[T'Leia|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, [[Egan Manno, Cassandra|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.  

[[Image:TristamCore3.jpg|thumb|200px|Tristam Core, circa 2392.]]

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, Sian|Douglas]] and [[Delano, Evan|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 [[Handley-Page, Leo|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.  

On stardate 239203.08, Tristam is caught in a time fracture on the [[Peppalexa|Peppalexa homeworld]], sending him and [[Shandres, Ki|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 [[Tuk, Hanar|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]].

===Outpost 3===

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”.

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—hough 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]] tells Tristam of what has happened. She tells him not to speak to Roshanara, fearing that he would over-react and would not handle an encounter with her well (given the strong possibility that 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 the relationship between them, he refers to her without naming her, 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), 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 2395, LtCmdr Rahman goes back to her time of origin, and the true Roshanara Rahman returns to the ship once more.  

In September 2395, work on the [[MST project]] hits an unexpected stand-still because of the limits of current-day technology. His disappointment is quickly set aside upon 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 council 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 whilst appearing purely professional.  

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 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, though 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’s crash-land into [[Limbo]]. He looks after young [[Ayden Blake]] until this point, reuniting him with his mother after the reach Limbo’s surface. As Blake breaks down, Tristam consoles her, but asks about Roshanara’s status and whether she made it off the ship, and 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 for other members of the crew.

Young and considerably naïve by typical Rodulan standards, Tristam has proven to be 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 Tristam’s standard reaction. 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. He often cannot properly explain certain concepts to others in one attempt, requiring multiple attempts to become understandable, and often uses metaphors and colloquialisms to get his point across.  

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 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, 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 glimpses the thoughts of those around him, but to avoid causing harm, he refuses to engage others in the full use of his abilities, instead using basotile. 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.  

That being said, Tristam 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. He rarely carries a phaser, unless need for its use as a tool arises.  

Tristam enjoys working with technology, and is happy to get his hands dirty and fix something, calling 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. Some note on many occasions 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 to the confusion of others, but he is more than happy to explain what he means.

File:Tristamseason-Christmas.jpg|Happy holidays

*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.