Michael Dart

Adolescence (2360 – 2378)

Michael was born and raised on Earth, deep in the Sierra Mountains.  Due to the remote nature of those mountains, he did not make many friends until much later in his adolescence.  He grew up hearing captivating stories from his great grandfather about his time in Starfleet.  He spoke of exploring strange phenomena, visiting new worlds, and engaging in skirmishes with Cardassian ships.  While his great grandfather had been no engineer, Michael nevertheless grew up in a family with a strong engineering tradition.  His grandfather was a civilian engineer who contracted work out to Utopia Planetia shipyards on Mars.  His stepfather would leave their modest cabin in the Sierras to travel up into orbit in order to repair civilian craft, where he also managed a small orbital depot station.  Michael’s aunt raced small craft in competitions and also served as her own mechanic.  These were the people who had taught and inspired him as he grew up.

Michael’s early years were spent in relative seclusion, with few relationships outside of his family.  However, as he entered his teenage years, he began to accompany his father to the orbital depot, where he gained much of his early knowledge in engineering.  He also attended his aunt’s racing events and observed from the engineering bays, providing him with his first real exposure to both people and the wider galaxy.  Through these experiences, he realized that his sheltered upbringing had left him vulnerable and gullible.  His interactions with others taught him hard lessons about how easily he could be taken advantage of, and the importance of building trust cautiously.

Starfleet Academy (2378 – 2384)

At age 18, Michael’s choice to join Starfleet was inspired by his great grandfather’s stories as well as the buzz surrounding Voyager’s return.  With his family’s strong engineering tradition, it was natural for him to choose this as his specialization.  Thanks to the experiences provided by his family, he found his studies easy.  However, he faced challenges at the Academy in developing his interpersonal relationships with classmates and teachers.  Collaborating with others would become a difficult skill for him to develop in order to achieve common objectives.

Service aboard USS Resilience (2384 – 2394)

Michael’s service aboard the Resilience technically began during his cadet years, as he spent a year on board as an acting ensign in order to get hands-on Engineering experience.  The ship was an old Freedom class that had spent its glory years in the Dominion war as a scout vessel, and had nearly been decommissioned for all the abuse the war had inflicted on it.  Instead, it was repurposed into a barely operating support vessel that required constant patchwork and on the fly fixes to keep in running order.  It was the perfect crucible to challenge cadets focusing in the field of Engineering to keep on their toes, and so its primary function was to take on cadets for this purpose.  Its secondary function was to provide some practical support and delivery of supplies and personnel within a safe range of Starfleet territory, as the ship was always on the brink of imminent failure.  The crew was largely made up of a combination of Starfleet personnel who were either very passionate about training up the next generation of Starfleet Engineers, or else personnel who were basically on dead-end assignments.  Michael had grown fond of the underdogged ship and its eclectic crew, and with the endorsement of its chief engineer he was granted a posting aboard the vessel for much of his early career once he graduated from the Academy.

Service aboard USS Adroit (2394 – 2401)

With all the time Michael had spent aboard his prior posting, he had become very adept regarding the needs and requirements of a Freedom-Class vessel.  Working with a constant influx of cadets on their tour years aboard the Resilience had kindled a desire for Michael to take on more of a mentor and leadership role.  When the opening of Chief Engineer came up aboard the Adroit, Michael was selected to fill the role.  He spent 3 years calling the Engineering Bay his own, until an untimely accident decompressed the bridge of the vessel.  Michael and his team were forced to re-route controls to their consoles and Michael took temporary command of the vessel to finish out their assignment and then limp them back to the nearest starbase.  The quick actions of he and his team were what led to his consideration to step up as the new First Officer, while the Adroit received a new Captain.

Service aboard USS Fresno (2401 – Present)

With a focus on Engineering in his career, there Michael found himself experiencing regrets exchanging his yellow uniform for the Command reds.  But when the Fresno, a California-class ship assigned to Taskforce 72 specifically to handle Engineering-based needs and support needed a new Captain, it was the perfect opportunity to compromise between the roles of leadership and falling back to his expertise in Engineering.  A new chapter in his life begins, where it seems both his love of Engineering problems and his role in leadership can be utilized at once.