Etah

Early Life on Denobula

Like most Denobulans Etah was born and raised on Denobula. He was actually thirty years old before he ever left the planet for more than a few days at a time, but that isn’t odd considering his species’ long lifespan and their preference for staying home. During secondary education and post-secondary Etah was a student athlete competing in Anbo-Jyutsu. Instead of moving toward graduate school or obtaining employment, he became a pro Anbo-Jyutsu athlete. This was outside of the norm in Denobulan culture, who tend to use their long lifespans to gain in-depth education in many, sometimes interrelated, fields. Etah was an athlete, then champion and then hall of fame coach over a dozen or so years. During which time he married his first two wives and had his first four children. By the time he turned thirty, sports had run their course and his choices were to move into academia or to make another unorthodox choice.

Entering Starfleet

Most Denobulans are very content to stay on their home planet, and those that leave tend to leave for the purpose of scientific exploration. But Etah, as he likes to say, is a breed apart. He followed up his career as a violent athlete by enlisting in Starfleet to join the ranks of Starfleet Security. Not only did he decide to join Starfleet, he joined Starfleet to wear boots and hold a blaster. There was just something in him that wanted to choose the road less traveled. So 2359 he attended Starfleet Technical Services Academy, followed by attending Advanced Tactical Training.

Federation-Cardassian War

His first assignment was the Setlik Garrison on the Cardassian Border, smack dab in the middle of the Federation-Cardassian War. Setlik was not exactly a stimulating posting. He started his time there as part of the quick reaction force and ended his time there as part of a counter terror interdiction squad. By this point he had already seen some of the most intense fighting in the war, so he wasn’t intimidated by the fighting. But as the war died down and the Cardassian border turned into the demiliterized zone, the newly minted Chief Etah sought additional opportunities.

Romulan Neutral Zone

Etah was assigned as the non-commissioned officer in charge of security on the USS Monitor, a Nebula-class starship, which was permanently assigned to patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone. During the ensuing four years he trained in repelling boarding actions, and conversely, in starship boarding actions. His duties during this time primarily  consisted of standing post and training, with some combat interspersed. So it amounted to extended bouts of boredom, punctuated by spikes of sheer panic and aggression. 

Federation-Klingon War

At the start of the Second Federation Klingon War, Etah was assigned to the USS Tecumseh, an Excelsior-class starship. Along with the rest of the crew of Tecumseh, he was part of the Federation forces retaking the Archanis sector from Klingons. He fought in dozens of physical confrontations with Klingons, who honored him with the nickname Mugato which was a reference to his Denobulan biology having a much closer relationship to their primate ancestors, than other primate based species such as humans and to his sheer ferocity in battle.

Dominion War

Etah was still assigned to the USS Tecumseh when the Dominion War began. Once the war was underway, the Tecumseh was assigned to the Second Fleet. Several months into the war, the Tecumseh crossed over from Second Battle of Deep Space 9 and destroyed the Dominion shipyards on Torros III.  Aboard the USS Tecumseh, he participated in Operation return and the Liberation of Betazed.

Following the Dominion War

Etah arrived on Betazed after the USS Tecumseh fought the remnants of the Dominion Fleet in orbit, that the natives of Betazed had already driven off the surface.  Then just as suddenly as the war had begun, it ended. For the Denobulan soldier, this peace was the culmination of three wars, and a career already spanning sixteen years. On Betazed, a random planet he had arbitrarily been sent to, Etah found peace, as he began to receive treatment for Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He used his connections within Starfleet Command to be transferred to the Betazed Garrison, where he requisitioned a small but pretty house on the shores of Lake Cataria and married a local woman, in a traditional Betazoid ceremony. His third wife was able to meet his first wife shortly before she died and they bonded as a family, in true Denobulan fashion. 

Education

In 2385, after the surface of Mars was ravaged by what was thought to be the result of artificially created beings turning to terrorism, Etah had a crisis of faith. He wasn’t sure that the Federation or Starfleet was the intra-galactic force for good that it bills itself as. He was of course free to continue his role as a Master Chief of the Betazoid garrison, or to seek a posting elsewhere. But he decided to put a Starfleet career spanning 26 years in the rearview mirror by doing something, for once, that would make sense for a Denobulan. He applied, and was accepted to, the University of Betazed. 

Over the next 14 years, Etah spent time with his two wives and a small Army of now mixed race children. He studied biology, medicine, psychiatry, neurology, psychology, exopsychology, social psychology, cultural anthropology, exoanthropology, and conflict studies. By 2399, he had graduated medical school, completed a psychiatric residency, completed a fellowship and obtained a double PhD in Clinical Psychology and Conflict Studies after successfully defending his dual subject doctrinal thesis, “the Social Drivers of Aggressive Behaviors and Their Long Term Psychological and Physiological Consequences.”

Bravo Fleet

After Mars was effectively destroyed, Etah thought that his Starfleet career had run its course. He decided that he found peace and would build a family there on Betazoid. But as the years went on, and he learned so much about people and behavior, he realized that he still wanted to serve. But his uniform color would have to change from gold to teal. He observed problems within Starfleet, including how they conduct diplomacy and how they tend to the crews mental and psychiatric health. So decided that now that he has evolved as a man, that he would take up the uniform again but in a different and greater capacity. The fact is that neither the Federation or Starfleet were going away, so it will take people of experience and integrity to make Starfleet the best version of itself. So he decided to be part of that solution. After a short time as a cadet he was commissioned as Lieutenant in Bravo Fleet and assigned to the Luna Class USS Europa.