Miguel Lopez
From FEInfobase
Miguel Lopez is the senior tactical consultant at Starfleet Operations, assigned from the Tactical division of the Fleet. Lopez is both respected and berated in the military community; despite displaying excellent strategic thinking, he has never been directly involved in combat.
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Personal Details
Name: Miguel Lopez
Terran Age: 32
Date of Birth: 2371
Place of Birth: Barcelona, Spain
Species: Human
Position: Tactical Specialist, Starfleet Operations
Marital Status: Single
Family: Father: Juan Lopez (deceased) | Mother: Emilia Castro (status unknown) | Brother: Alejandro Lopez
Languages Spoken: Federation Standard; Spanish; Klingon; Romulan
Interests: Military History; Golf; Jogging; Fitness; Earth Jazz; 24th Century Rock; Piano and Guitar.
Medical Details
Height: 5’10�?
Weight: 152 lbs.
Hair Colour: Brown
Eye Colour: Brown
Appearance: Of average height and build, Lopez is considered someone rather easily overlooked in a crowd. Although not unattractive, his features have nothing about them to really draw a great deal of attention to him, and along with his soft-spoken manner and disinclination to give a forceful first impression, most would assume he would be rapidly dismissed in any meeting with him.
But when he does have the attention on him, Lopez has the ability to captivate his audience. His soft-spoken manner becomes intimate and involving, and his unassuming conduct encourages an aura of trustworthiness. He is one of those men whose personal presence far outweighs that of his initial appearance, and cannot be captured in pictures or recordings.
Starfleet Record
Rank: Lieutenant j.g.
Assignment: Tactical Advisor, Starfleet Operations
Decorations:
Grankite Order of Tactics (2395) Meritorious Service Medal (2398)
Service Record:
- 2389 – 2392: Starfleet Academy
- 2392 – 2395: Starbase 15; Strategic Operations Advisor
- 2395 – 2398: Starfleet Tactical; Advisor and Admiralty Attaché
- 2398 – 2403: Jupiter Station EDF Offices; Tactical Advisor
- 2403 – Present: Starfleet Operations; Tactical Advisor
Background
Miguel Lopez was born in Barcelona to a father whose devotion to his job was rivalled only to his devotion to his alcohol, and a mother who abandoned her husband, Miguel, and his elder brother Alejandro by the time Miguel was three.
As such, with Juan Lopez regularly absent for his work or too inebriated to handle matters at home, Miguel was primarily brought up by himself. Alejandro, by the time he hit his teens, had established himself as an excellent juvenile delinquent; by the time Miguel reached that age he had witnessed the disciplining and all-round distasteful aspects of such a way of life, and thus mostly kept to himself.
He was a bright boy in school, mostly due to the fact that his voracious desire for knowledge had him studying and reading many hours of the day. He was particularly competent in studies historical and political, with a strong social conscience and a true interest in military history. The only real outlet Miguel could enjoy away from his thirst for knowledge was his fondness for music, escapism from his alcoholic father and his increasingly erratic elder brother.
By the time Miguel was eighteen, Alejandro had found himself in prison and Juan had been fired. Suffering under the thumb of a father with nothing to lose for too long already, Lopez made the decision to escape from home as quickly as possible.
At this point, the Borg War was at its height. Starfleet was struggling for recruitment, and Lopez had PR individuals coming to his school on a regular basis. Speeches about the importance of the work done by Starfleet to protect the Federation pricked his social conscience, and he signed up.
Starfleet was by then more interested in enlisted bodies than competent officers, and that was Lopez’s original stop at the recruiting stations. But a grizzled NCO took one look at his qualifications and aptitude scores, and promptly filed his application over towards the Academy, somewhat to the disappointment of an idealistic Miguel.
But the Academy was destined to suit him better. His huge competence as a student held him in good stead, and he spent his three years there doing almost nothing but working. His physical abilities were passable; he had the drive to succeed and a belief in healthy living that meant he could pass all fitness tests, but he would never be a great fighter or pilot.
It was in other ways that his competence manifested itself. Most assumed that he would take his brains to the science department, for more of the social studies side of things; Miguel had different ideas. Although his scores in the security department were only passable, he had displayed tremendous aptitude in all tactical tests. His intellect and great knowledge from studies, combined with a natural talent, rapidly showed him to have something of an innate tactical genius.
With the dwindling numbers in Starfleet and the war getting worse, it was not uncommon for competent students to be graduated a year ahead. Miguel was rapidly headhunted by an advisor to Admiral Clarke, and dragged out to Starbase 15 to put his brains to use behind a desk, planning out wartime strategies.
It was here that Lopez made a great reputation for himself, despite his youth, as a first-grade strategist. His superiors often took a lot of credit for plans that he drew up, but devotion to duty meant that this was all entirely normal and expected by Lopez.
His superiors couldn’t, however, take credit for his genius in the background at the Battle of Delonois III. He won the Grankite Order of Tactics for what would later be known as the ‘Lopez Blind Fight’. He recognised that torpedoes had a potential range far greater than that which they were usually used at – the fact that opposing ships had the time to target and destroy incoming torpedoes meant that they were rarely used outside of immediate combat as a backup to phasers.
Lopez decided that if he could ensure that the Borg were unable to activate anti-torpedo defences, he could marshal the Akiras and Steamrunners – the weapons platforms of the fleet – behind the immediate lines of combat and rain down chaos that way. The consequence was a battle fought with interference washing over the sensors of everyone in the fight, and a battle fought half-blind. Targeting data was transmitted back to the ‘artillery platform’ from the Defiants and especially starfighters on the front line, and the Borg were unable to defend themselves from the barrage after barrage of torpedoes.
The losses to the fleet from the battle flown with far less technological aid than usual were hefty; however, it was countered by the massive casualties suffered by the blinded and battered Borg.
It was considered to be a success of a tactic and a battle – though one so particularly risky that it would not be used again since. Lopez was heavily commended for his role, decorated, and personally picked by Rear Admiral Tuvok to return to Earth as a primary advisor in Starfleet Tactical.
Lopez sat out the Battle of Sol from a desk, helping to supervise the battle strategies. He was commended for his role, and those knowledgeable about the events in Starfleet Command on the days of the final battle are aware of the important part he played.
Yet afterwards he rejected an offer of another desk job on Earth, and requested to serve at Jupiter Station, as a primary tactical advisor to the Earth Defence Force. Despite having never actually been in combat himself, Lopez was still keenly in favour of the idealistic notion of ‘making a difference’.
However, when he was finally offered a position in Starfleet Operations to advise on matters of tactics there, Lopez could only accept the offer, seeing the potential there was in working ‘in the thick of things’.
Personality Profile
Miguel Lopez is, if nothing else, a perfectionist. He hates chaos in any form, and has often been referred to as a ‘control freak’ by those around him. His life is carefully regimented, planned, and habits and rules are followed to the letter. Some have dismissed him, as a result, as being ‘boring’ for his unwillingness to fight the system and go against the status quo, but it has held him in good stead as a solid officer for much time.
Professionally, the perfectionist attitude is still predominant. It has been said – by people who know what they’re talking about – that Lopez is a tactical genius, and his displays during the war have only backed this up. Despite having never been in a fight, he has an instinctive awareness of battles and combat which were responsible for some pinnacle conflicts in the Borg War. This is the only part of his life where one may witness him breaking tradition; he has come up with some truly innovative tactics in his time. He does, however, argue with the belief that doing things ‘by the book’ in combat can be a weakness, even when told by combat veterans. He merely states that their impassioned perspective of a battle leaves them unable to see the bigger picture; that a war, if seen from the right light with the right angle, can be predicted and measured and analysed without having to be ‘gung ho’. Lopez has a distinct dislike of mavericks, considering them to be selfish and annoying.
The cost of his devotion to his work and his status as what is honestly a genius has been harsh. He has very little social competence as a result of his intellect presenting a wall between him and others, and his work giving him little time to hone any social skills. He is often reclusive and cold – sometimes even shy – towards those he does not know. Lopez is also particularly inept in romance, finding it all but impossible to assemble the right words if faced with a pretty face and even the slightest dose of stress.
Few people bother to try and draw him out of his shell, for it seems more effort than it is worth. However, when the task is complete, Lopez can be good company. He has a dose of arrogance about him that may sometimes need toning down, but his intellect is shared with a good sense of high-brow humour that, if being displayed in an environment where it would be appreciated, is particularly witty.
His one distraction from work has always been his passion for music. It is his way of relaxing, and when he is off-duty he will often be found practicing some new tune or listening to a new artist he has discovered. It is, probably, Miguel Lopez’s main ‘soft spot’.