James Ryker

Ryker was born in Florida, Earth, to parents of Henry Ryker and Lori Ryker. Over the years of growing up, he has had trouble making friends, being the quiet and shy type that he was. When he grew tired of being left out, he decided to change his attitude and made certain that he was known to everyone. Soon he developed a cheerful personality and blurted out random, useless information, basically starting small talk, just to make those around him notice that he was there.

What exactly made these personality changes? Camping trip. Around ten years old, his parents decided to take him on a camping trip out in Colorado, and on their third day, they went hiking up this large hill when Ryan missed his footing and fell a few feet, causing him to land and break his left arm. This immediately ended their camping trip and brought him to the hospital, of course, his arm was healed up and repaired with no trouble at all, but he still had to stay a day to rest and let his arm finish healing. After which he realized that if it had gone any other way, he may not have survived. So he decided to be as lively and active as possible, to make as many friends as possible, to make people know that he existed and that he wasn’t going to away that easily.

So as soon as he returned to school, he started talking to random people, coming up with random things to say, starting small talk, and just getting their attention. He’d even just pop right into a group of kids and just start talking. A lot of the time he annoyed people, few times he’s gotten into trouble, but on occasion, he will get some attention, some laughs, and some recognition.

In High School, he joined a football team and ended up playing as the quarterback. As the quarterback, of course, he ended up being popular with the girls. Of course, that never stopped him from starting useless small talks to get people’s attention but they’ve learned to deal with it since he was a star in their school. But there was one girl he had eyes on, one he very much wanted to get to know more than any other girl. Her name was Beth and eventually, his charms won her over and he spent the best High School years he had with her.

What got him wanting to join Starfleet though? It wasn’t just because of all the propaganda or advertisements or recruitment brochures that did it. No. It was his Father, who was a pilot himself, that got James wanting to join Starfleet for the same reason…to Pilot a Starship. Of course, James’ father only piloted new toys around Earth, Lunar, and Mars. But whenever James got the chance, his Father would set him down on his lap and show him the controls, teaching him everything he needed to know on how to Pilot like a champ.

So when James graduated from High School, Starfleet Academy was the next thing he went for. Beth also joined as well, but eventually over the courses and a couple of years in the Academy, they knew that they would never be placed on the same ship and that long distances make it difficult for everyone. So James did the right thing and broke it off, telling Beth that the last thing he would want to do is make her wait months or years before they could see each other again, to hold and love.

It was then his last year in the Academy that he met an interesting fellow, that went by the name of Vakai, a Romulan in Starfleet Academy. Of course, they only had a few classes together, and James felt it was interesting to see a Romulan in Starfleet, especially from what he’s learned about them. So, typically, James started some useless small talk to engage Vakai and get to know the guy. Sure it took him some effort, but eventually, Vakai warmed up to him. It was in fact, the last few months on a Training Vessel when James and Vakai became friends. And after they rescued the rest of the crew and returned back to Starbase Bravo, they both graduated and got their assignments, along with the rest of their class of course…they didn’t really get advanced early just because of what happened on the Training Ship, but the event was certainly logged into their file.

(The Archanis Campaign)

During the Campaign, Ensign Ryker was the Pilot for the Delta Squad of a Hazard Team under Task Force 93. Their first mission led them to Meronia III after being dropped off by the USS Vesta. Upon arriving on the planet, Delta Squad’s first task was to eliminate the threat of D’Ghor Raiders that were trying to raid the colony. With training and patience, they were able to eliminate the D’Ghor raiders on the planet and use their transport to locate and land on a planet that had a D’Ghor Camp inside The Triangle. Unfortunately, there was no vital information at the camp but his leader, Vakai, discovered that they had been sending large files somewhere outside the system and once they had cleared the camp of D’Ghor Klingons, they took the transport and headed for the destination that the transmissions went to, only to find a D’Ghor Outpost. Once they arrived at the Outpost, they were able to devise a plan to eliminate their ability to use their communication systems, but they were also able to eliminate the Klingons on board, grab the intelligence that they hoped to be important and steal one of the two D12’s that was docked at the station. They had also rigged the outpost’s reactor to overheat, and overload, causing the station to be completely destroyed, which the team was far away enough in the D12 from the blast.

After the Delta Squad’s efforts in gathering intelligence data from Hunters of D’Ghor’s own computers, the team all received promotions. The Non-Commissioned Officers in the team all rose one rank higher, as well as did Vakai and Ryker.

Over time, Ryker served on board the Centaur as Acting First Officer when their last mission on board the Centaur had his friend, Vakai, as Acting Captain. Then when they were both promoted, they were transferred to the Sovereign, where Ryker was the First Officer. But some time later, Vakai and his lover, Sivol, both chose to leave Starfleet and join the ranks of the Romulan Republic Navy. This left the Sovereign with a new Captain, and after a bit of a discussion with Captain Henry Maxwell, Ryker was then in charge of a Special Operations team. Unfortunately, the last mission of the Sovereign during the Blood Dilithium crisis, to which Ryker’s team had to save Captain Maxwell from a very nasty Orion, he was then approached by Captain Gerald Hunt to transfer to Starbase 415 after the Sovereign was drydocked.

Ryker now resides on Starbase 415, where he continues to be the leader of the Special Operations Division.