Jacob Thatcher
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Doctor Jacob Thatcher
Info
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 48
DOB: 01/04/2355
POB: Lunar Colony 1, Earth's Moon
Height: 5 feet 2 inches
Weight: 7 stone
Hair: Bushy White
Build: Slight
History
Doctor Thatcher was misunderstood almost from the moment he learned to speak; it was obvious to his parents that he possessed an intellect well beyond any normal child. By the age of 10 he was regularly reading thesis by well renowned Starfleet engineers and re-writing the theories so they worked.
For years he sent these theories back to Starfleet, hoping to help a little and for years he was ignored. When Jacob was 15 years old the thesis re-writes reached the desk of one Vice Admiral Fairchild, then head of one of the fleets Research and Development groups. Fairchild knew he had stumbled upon a brilliant mind and offered Jacob the chance to study at Starfleet’s Advanced Tactical School.
Throughout his schooling Jacob’s grip on reality loosened with each passing year, Starfleet accepted this as his ideas just seemed to become better and better. Jacob graduated at the top of his class, achieving near perfect marks in every exam he sat. In recognition of his achievements the Federation president came to present Jacob with his certificates personally.
Jacob forgot to attend the ceremony, instead choosing to spend time re-developing warp drive from first principles.
This set the tone for the rest of Jacobs’s life; he generated a reputation for unreliability. No one could fault his intellect, but his lack of any normal social skills began to hold him back.
For many years Jacob sat on the fringes of theoretical discussion groups, passing his ideas and thoughts around yet never making a name for himself. All that changed when he was invited to the group developing the next generation propulsion system for Starfleet vessels.
From the moment he joined the group Jacob started making trouble, mainly because of one Marcus Solair a rival theoretical propulsion specialist who had succeeded in developing several new warp drive designs. In a bid to be recognised Jacob began suggesting more and more extreme methods of developing a new drive system, ranging from stealing propulsion technologies from the Klingons or the Romulan’s to allowing himself to be assimilated by the Borg in order to use their resources on the problem. His crowning moment was suggesting Starfleet kidnap the Q Continuum and force the Q to provide propulsion for all Starfleet vessels.
After a few months discussion Marcus Solair suggested a system he called the Quantum Aperture Drive, Jacob immediately counter proposed his own Quantum Slipstream Drive. Starfleet requested that the team concentrate on Dr Solair’s research as they felt Jacob Thatcher’s Quantum Slipstream Drive would never work.
As work began in earnest on the Quantum Aperture Drive Jacob began refusing to work, in every meeting he began complaining the quantum flux would destroy the aperture and everything close to it but he could provide no proof to his statements.
Fearing that Doctor Thatcher was just trying to discredit his rival Starfleet moved him to another team, allowing Dr Solair and the other team members to move on to developing the Aperture Drive in piece.
For a year Thatcher worked on increasing warp drive efficiency in the fleets remaining Galaxy Class vessels, while he enjoyed his job he still spent time working on his QSD.
When the laboratory housing Doctor Solair and the Aperture team exploded during the first aperture experiments Starfleet suspected foul play, Jacob found himself arrested by Starfleet Security for the murder of the entire team. Weeks turned in to months as Starfleet investigated the debris, Jacob never changed his story – he just knew the aperture wouldn’t work but couldn’t explain how he knew.
Starfleet eventually came to the conclusion that the aperture had caused the destruction, and that Jacob could have had no part in causing the accident to happen. They were left with a quandary; although Jacob Thatcher had no part in the experiments failure they didn’t feel safe releasing him. While incarcerated Jacob had spent many nights alone in his cell talking to himself, when asked about it his only reply was that he was talking with God.
As a compromise they offered to provide him with a secure location to continue his QSD research, never expecting him to produce any useful results Starfleet promptly forgot about Doctor Jacob Thatcher.
In 2387 Jacob appeared again, this time promising Starfleet a working Quantum Slipstream Drive. Not even the loss of the first Excalibur prototype sent him away again, he worked tirelessly to fix the 10 hour barrier and make his QSD the success he felt it could be.
Psychological Overview
Jacob maintains a tenuous grip on reality at the best of times; under periods of stress he tends to sever his ties to reality totally preferring to exist in his own little world. Known to forget the day of the week, the month or even the current year Jacob can never be relied on to remember the meetings he’s supposed to attended.
While not a spiritual man Jacob is convinced that God is actually a member of a long dead race of space ferrets, he is sure of this because God is always with him ready for a conversation. Because of this Jacob can often be found talking to God or more accurately talking to himself.