Timothy McBratton

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Latest revision as of 12:39, 1 November 2006

Timothy McBratton is assigned to Deep Space One as the station's chaplin.

Personal Background

Prior to 2403

Born in Indianapolis on Earth, Timothy McBratton found himself in a loosely associated family. His father was an engineer and starship designer who was rarely home. His mother was herself a local politician and left much of the parenting to Timothy's older sister Kathy. Katherine McBratton, twelve years older than her little brother, was the perfect surrogate mother through Timothy's earliest years.

Destined to become a doctor on Daedra Colony, the girl instilled a since of compassion into her charge through-out her entire term as his primary care-giver. When, a few weeks after Timothy's either birthday, she announced she had to leave the family and pursue her own dreams, it seems the boy would be left almost completely alone outside of classes. His sister, however, had planned for her brother. Kathy had approached, without her family's knowledge, a local priest.

Father John Baker, the pastor of McBratton's neighborhood, had been asked to personally keep an eye on Timothy. For the next ten years, when Tim's school day ended, he would run off to the local parish and spend his afternoons and, at times, evenings studying and playing in the church. At the same time, the boy was training as a deacon. By the time of his eighteenth birthday, it seemed clear he was destined for the priesthood. With his parents almost always gone, there was no one to complain or tell him otherwise.

Ordained on his nineteenth birthday, McBratton was sent to Vatican City to learn the ropes of pastoral work. After several months in the peaceful solitude of the Vatican, and two years working as a pastor on the paradise of Earth, however, Timothy realized he needed to leave the planet to find souls that could use him. With the blessing of his bishop, McBratton applied to Starfleet as a chaplain. After several months of waiting for a reply, he was finally accepted into the Chaplain's Corps.

More training was required of Father McBratton. He given an education in the religious practices of the many Federation peoples, as well as those from beyond its borders. After completing the Chaplain's coursework at Starfleet Academy, Father McBratton was dispatched to different outposts through-out the Alpha Quadrant.

From 2365 until 2370 Timothy would serve on Deep Space Two, working with almost thirty different races, each with its own beliefs. During these five years, McBratton became famed for his ability to learn the inner workings of almost any religion in only a day or two of intense study. This made him able to handle the many challenges of Starfleet officers serving on the station, and an expert on the subject of theology.

One of his more notable assignments was his year-long tour on-board the USS Denver A in 2371. Unfortunately, he and the entire ship was trapped in the Delta Quadrant during the war. There he did his best to help keep the moral of the ship up under the command of Colonel Rolf Emerson. Once the ship managed to return to the Alpha Quad rent, he went on a two year sabbatical to Daedra Colony.

Once he returned to active duty, the chaplain was stationed on Starbase 79, a Regula class station. He worked the post until 2378 when the station was decommissioned. Soon after he was sent back to Earth to undergo a new training program catching the chaplain up on the multiple new faiths entering Starfleet.

When he completed his advanced training, no matter how unneeded it may have been, McBratton was dispatched to a new Deep Space station with a familiar commanding officer. For the second time in his career, Father McBratton was placed under the command of Rolf Emerson. Until 2385, he worked on the planet Allura 9, acting as chaplain, moral officer, and at times counselor.

After a number of incidents exposing the chaplain to harsh combat and carnage, he began to show signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in 2382. He never sought treatment, and as conditions on DS7 became more severe, his condition worsened. Often people would find the Padre speaking to thin air and crying alone.

In the year 2385, while sheltering several civilians in Deep Space Seven's chapel, he shot and killed a man trying to break in. After this horrid event, the Chaplain was assigned to therapy for a number of months, but he eventually resigned his commission. In 2386, using a Delta Flyer Admiral Emerson gave Timothy, he set out on a pilgrimage in hopes of finding forgiveness and healing.

For about one year, the Padre flew about the frontier regions of the Federation before his ship was damaged in the Briar Patch. The priest landed his craft on Ba'ku, crashing into a somewhat mountainous region. Instead of searching for help, McBratton became convinced that he was meant to arrive on this seemingly uninhabited world to become a hermit.

Years passed before, because of his ship's automated systems and solar-powered generators operating at drastically reduced levels, an emergency distress call began to sound. The orbiting Deep Space 1 would be alerted to the presence of the stranded hermit that had, up until then, gone un-noticed.

After 2403

A team led by Commander T'Val soon found McBratton on Ba'ku in its wilderness. He was rescued and taken back to the station.