Jare Kovet

Summary
Jare Kovet is a Bajoran native, born to an occupied home world and raised during its struggles to be free, he later joined Starfleet prior to the admittance of Bajor into the United Federation of Planets. He is the Chief Tactical Officer of the Saber-class USS Lammergeier NCC-61815, a position he has held since early 2379, and has come to the Shackleton Expanse as part of the mission of exploration taken up by Task Force 11.

His earliest days were spent among refugees and prisoners taken by the Cardassian occupying force on Bajor, though in adolescence he, like so many others flocked to the resistance movement fighting to free the oppressed world. It was during his teens, struggling to survive in the muck and squalor of hidden caves when Kovet abandoned his faith in the Prophets of Bajor; later choosing to recognize them as little more than an Alien species inhabiting the nearby Bajoran wormhole, willfully ignorant of the plight of the people they’d presented themselves as Gods to. When the Cardassians abandoned Bajor to it’s freedom, Kovet enlisted with the newly formed Bajoran Militia, serving a variety of assignments until the threat of occupation by the Cardassians through way of the Dominion allies loomed, and he sought to serve within Starfleet.

As a Starfleet Officer, specializing in Tactical operations, he has more than proven himself a versatile and effective tactician; have served with distinction and merit aboard a number of prominent starships. And though he’d accrued quite a repository of influence in his career, which would’ve granted him the ability to choose nearly any prestigious posting available, he’d opted to serve aboard little Lammergeier upon the recommendation of a prior Commanding Officer, and the personal recruitment of Captain Palmer.

Relatively new to the little Saber-class, he hopes to prove himself a loyal asset to the Captain.

2349 - 2363: An Occupied Childhood
Jare Kovet was born to an occupied Bajor. The son of unmarried laborers, he spent the bulk of his young formative years toiling wherever his Cardassians overlords dictated. Education came in the form of communal lectures and guidance from family and friends of family, though by 2359 his parents had earned enough personal credit among the labor front to warrant his admission into an organized youth education facility. Though such an opportunity to learn came with limits, and upon reaching the age of fourteen-years, he was summarily returned to the world camps where he would be expected to serve and work as an adult laborer.

2363 - 2369: Resistance Fighter
Frustrated by the poor conditions he and his family had been forced to live in, Kovet took to temper easily, and as such warranted the attention of resistance fighters looking to put such contempt to good use in the ongoing struggle against the Cardassians. Despite the protestations of his parents, Kovet began to work closely in support of a local resistance cell, acting first as an information courier while he learned the finer techniques of guerilla warfare. Worried that his involvement with the Bajoran resistance would result in reprisal being taken against his younger siblings, Kovet became aloof within his home, and by the time of his fifteenth birthday had gone to live with the resistance fighters in tunnels beneath the hills overlooking the Janitza valley, wherein he’d been born and raised

Exceedingly crafty and determined to prevail in the face of his Cardassian oppressors, Kovet hastily rose among the ranks of his fellow resistance fighters, losing his role of information courier in favor of far more dangerous work befitting of his skill. However, while the vicelike grip of Cardassia weakened due to the increase in violent uprising across Bajor, so too did reprisal at the hands of the occupiers. Hundreds of innocent Bajorans would be severely punished for the actions of the resistance, many paying with their lives, and while his fellows remained faithful in their worship of the Prophets, praying for their guidance and overwatch, Kovet rejected the religion out of anger and dismissal as little more than fanciful myth from Bajor’s past.

2369 - 2370: Bajoran Military Academy
In the wake of the withdraw of Cardassian forced from Bajor, Kovet and many of his fellow resistance fighters were offered enlistment and application within the newly formed planetary Militia. As Bajor would finally emerge unto the Galactic stage as an entity all it’s own, the need for an experienced and dedicated military force to protect it and it’s interests was of paramount importance. Granted acceptance into the recently minted Academy in Ashalla, Kovet was trained in the finer aspects of serving as an Officer, taking an immediate liking to the tactical specialization offered. Upon completion of the requisite course load, Kovet was given the rank of Second Lieutenant, and assigned a junior posting aboard the Starfleet operated, Bajoran owned, Deep Space Nine.

2370 - 2371: Deep Space Nine
Aboard Deep Space Nine, Kovet would see his patience tested, as he all but openly opposed the presence of Starfleet and the Federation. To him, and to many Bajorans, it felt like an act of weakness to crawl to one Galactic power after the previous had left. And while Kovet found many of the procedures and regulations of Starfleet to be annoyances and hindrances to his ability to work with optimum efficiency, he soon learned to understand, and even respect Bajor’s new allies, eventually seeing them as assets and even friends. Though, always looming in the background of the old Cardassian space station, was the Bajoran Wormhole, apparent home of the Prophets, or rather an Alien species that claimed to be the Prophets. As a non-practicing Bajoran, Kovet found his day-to-day routine rather difficult to cope with, as he was often faced with scorn and rejection by the other Bajorans inhabiting Deep Space Nine.

2371 - 2374: Kitara
Alleviated of his difficult situation in 2371 upon his promotion to First Lieutenant, Kovet was granted a new posting aboard a newly launched Perkian-class Interceptor, named Kitara for a small village that had been raised to the ground by the Cardassians during the occupation. Assigned Chief Tactician, Kovet and the rest of the fledgling space born Bajoran Militia began to patrol and enforce the sovereignty of their people. No small task, given the sheer amount of traffic coming to and from the Bajoran Wormhole, especially given the moderate combat capability of Bajoran starships. Rather than outgun their foes, it was imperative for Kovet and the Kitara to outthink them and outthink them they generally did. Only in a few situations did the Kitara ever have to unleash the full fury of its modest weapon set, most notably during the brief war waged between the Klingon Empire and the Federation in 2374, when unruly Klingon raiders attempted to broach Bajoran settlements along the fringes of the system.

The Kitara, along with several sister-ships, all far outmatched by their Klingon rivals, were dispatched to drive back, and hold off the Klingons until reinforcements from Starfleet could help better secure Bajoran space. The Klingons, only delayed temporarily by the threats of one Major Kira Nerys who had taken command of the detachment, eventually opened fire. In the subsequent battle, five of ten Bajoran interceptors were disabled before a more imposing contingent sent by the Federation arrived and sent the Klingons fleeing. The Kitara was one of five remaining ships to have survived without serious damage, and as such was commended by the Bajoran Militia alongside its crew with Merits of Distinction.

2374: Starfleet Academy
Though the brief brushfire between the Klingon Empire and the Federation had been extinguished, the threat to Bajor and its people did not, as the Cardassian Union joined the Dominion in late 2374. The promise of a far greater war loomed, and despite a general desire among the Bajoran People to join the Federation proper, something that even Kovet himself supported, the decision was made to delay. Angered by this decision, Kovet and a number of other Bajoran Militia members applied for citizenship within the Federation, and for admittance into Starfleet Academy. If Bajor was to be sidelined in a war between the Federation and the Dominion, then Kovet would find another way in aiding Starfleet in its mission to oppose the Dominion and preserve Bajoran freedom from Cardassian rule.

Entered into a one-year advanced training program offered to former Bajoran Militia members, Kovet was still annoyed at having been sent to Earth, away from the conflict that erupted between the two great alliances. Soon though, even so far away from the frontlines as he was, Kovet had his first taste of the wrath of the Dominion when they attacked Starfleet Command and the Academy with newly joined Breen allies. Many of Kovet’s friends and colleagues, some of whom had similarly come to Starfleet Academy from Bajor, were killed in the surprise attack, serving as further motivation to him and others to complete their training and join the war effort.

2375: USS Achilles NX-92376
Upon completion of his requisite course load, Kovet was granted a commissioning in Starfleet with the rank of Ensign, and assigned to the recently restored USS Achilles, the first of her class, a starship much like the Defiant in that it was designed with combat as a primary focus. Having sustained severe damage in driving the remnants of Breen warships from Sol during the sneak attack, the Achilles was set to return to the frontlines and in need of new officer replacements. For his part, Kovet would earn his stripes in a Starfleet uniform in late 2374, when the Achilles took part in Operation ‘Return’, the mission to retake Deep Space Nine and Bajoran space from the Dominion. And though the Achilles did not push through the initial attack, it did play a vital part in eventually turning the tide of the battle in favor of Starfleet and the Klingons, forcing the Dominion into a retreat.

With Deep Space Nine back under the control, Starfleet and its allies began to push back into Dominion space, taking the fight on the offensive once more, and at the tip of the spear was, among many ships, the Achilles.

2375 - 2376: USS Adamant NCC-74208
Quickly having proven himself a more than capable Starfleet Tactical Officer, Kovet was promoted and reassigned to a posting aboard the Defiant-class USS Adamant under the command of war hero Captain, James Deckard. Deckard had specifically selected Kovet from the pool of available officers as a replacement, and during the course of the remaining war often spoke highly of, and commended Kovet for his creative thinking with regard to combat tactics. After the surrender of the Dominion in wake of the Battle of Cardassia Prime, Kovet remained aboard the Adamant as it escorted Dominion warships back through the Bajoran wormhole, a task which came with its own difficulties.

2376 - 2379: USS Athena NCC-71195
Having spent the majority of his life as a warrior, Kovet, like many Starfleet Officers, sought a change of pace following the conclusion of the war, and with his promotion to a full grade Lieutenant, came a new posting aboard the USS Athena, a Nebula-class starship about to set out on a new mission of scientific discovery within the Badlands spatial distortion. For three and a half years, the Athena would traverse the treacherous Badlands, attempting to catalogue and uncover the mysteries behind its unique existence, an assignment that was for the most part, routine, aside from the occasional incident with remnant Maquis elements still using the area as a safe harbor from persecution.

2379 - Present: USS Lammergeier NCC-61815
As the mission to explore the Badlands drew to a close, Kovet had grown increasingly weary of his time spent as an Officer in Starfleet. While he had indeed sought out peace in the wake of so much war, serving aboard a purely scientific starship had been something of a waste given his expertise. When review time came, he mentioned his waning interest in remaining an active part of Starfleet, which resulted his name coming in near the bottom of any recommendation listings for new assignments. It was at the bottom of this pool list of Officers, where he garnered the interest in a man known for reclamation projects, and was offered a posting aboard the little Lammergeier, a ship set out to explore the unknown region of space known as the Shackleton Expanse. Promised an escape from the mundane life of purely scientific research, Kovet accepted the offer made, and requested immediate transfer which he was granted.

Appearance
Handsome in a roguish manner, and with hints of age beyond that his actual years, Kovet is known for his professional and stern bearing. As is standard for Bajorans, his nose bears ridges, but unlike many Bajorans who serve within Starfleet, he does not wear the signature earring of his people, as sign of his rejection of faith in the Prophets. Whilst on duty, he is exceptionally level-headed, keeping his emotional reactions hidden away from those he serves alongside, though when free of such circumstances, he has been known to let down his guard and open himself up to those he considers friends.

Motivation
Originally wary of Starfleet and the Federation, Kovet’s devotion to the two organizations is unquestionable. He has seen the good they offer first-hand, and as such wishes to be a part of it. While it is true that he considered retirement, his excitement and inspiration as a Starfleet Officer has been renewed thanks to the adventure that awaits him aboard the Lammergeier and its mission to explore the Shackleton Expanse.

Episode 01

 * Day 01 | 0000 hrs. | Thread Title with Character 01, Character 02, Character 03