J'al Grenn
From FEInfobase
Name: J'al Grenn Position: Chief Flight Control Officer Rank: Lieutenant Commander Assigned: USS Horizon Race Caitian Gender Male Birth Place Barana Province, Cait Birth Date 8/24/2353 Age 33 (Current year is 2386)
Personal Description
J'al is a tall Caitian Male like most of his family. He is 6'4" tall, and weighs a hefty 170 pounds. (Caitian/Human conversion is to add 35 pounds to get equ. Human weight). He has Off-white fur with black spots in places.
He has a shorter mane that is somewhat brown in color, and trimmed to style instead of running to length down his back. His mane blends with his fur in the center, being off-white with spots, but the ends are brown. He has black fur on his hands and halfway up his arms with it scattered throughout his chest.
He lost his tail in an accident on Earth in pilot training. His Redemption Fighter lost a wing in a mid-air collision, and upon landing, his tail was crushed beyond repair, and removed at the base. He is not as stable as most other Caitians, and has developed the same stability as a normal human would have, which is far less then Caitian norm.
Biography
Before Starfleet, J'al enjoyed a 5 year enlistment in the Caitian Defense Force. In fact, he did not join Starfleet until he was 22. He served as a fighter pilot for the small, but necessary Caitian Military. In the Cait system, and around it, he flew mainly patrol missions, and then the Dominion War came up. The Caitian Military, and any Federation world with fighter unit, or Starships available were called into use. His Squadron, the 775th Caitian Air Defense Corps was used in a few early battles of the war. With manpower so stretched out, Starfleet had to resort to these kind of measures. It was then that he decided to join Starfleet, after seeing the beautiful ships, and training they had to offer pilots.
J'al then joined, and started out as a pilot for the Starfleet Fighter Corps. During his Freshman year of training, he was put up against a graduate by the name of Lt. Commander Jackie Clawson. A Wing Commander on the USS Rayden. All Cadets were required to fight a veteren, and he pulled her. He hid the fact that he already had 5 years of flight training, and 2 of front line combat as they flew towards the start of the fight. He let her get behind him by faking a low, slow turn, and as soon as she fired, he did a roll 360 to the left, and pulled up, zipping in behind her. For the next 10 minutes, they couldn't get a lock on each other. Both of them had been trained, and had been self-teaching themselves to the point that they were very unorthodox, and did not know what the other would do. To say the least, he was impressed. He had expected to down the rigid flying fleeter in under a minute.
Time was coming up, as each fight was no more then 15 minutes, so he pulled a... non-regulation move, and positioned himself directly under her by about 20 meters. He pulled up lightly, and rolled right to get a lock off her wing, but she pulled right as he did. The fighters bumped each other hard. His port engine died, and his starboard engine took in a chunk of aluminum outer skin from Jackie's fighter, damaging the blade and destroying his momentum. He started plummiting towards Earth. His instinct was to level it out, but he couldn't do it. He tried to eject, but the canopy was stuck. In a last ditch effort to save his life, he slammed the engine to full force, even though the intake was badly damaged. He was able to maneuver it into a glide trajectory, and aimed for the middle of the territory of Kansas on North America.
The force of the impact shattered the rear end of his fighter, and crushed his tail behind his seat (which was NOT designed for those with a tail). He also broke his left leg, 3 bones in his right arm, and his left collar bone. His right front canine tooth was snapped off, and he cracked a few others in the process. But thanks to the saftey systems, he survived. Since then, he's had trouble staying stable whils walking, and expressing himself to other members of his race. About 25% of the Caitian language and tone of voice is carried through tail motions. Luckily, the number of Caitians he works with in Starfleet is very limited, so language is easier. Walking was something else though. It took about a year to walk properly again. The tail is very acute to keeping the Caitian in balance.
After recovery, he flew for the Carrier Class USS Yorktown. That stint lasted a few years, until he was involved in a highley sensitive accidental attack on a Romulan Scout Ship. The ship ambushed his patrol group while the Yorktown was in orbit of Vasek III. His group was patrolling the system's edge when the ship decloaked and opened fire on them. His group was able to cripple the ship, and a lucky shot destroyed it by overloading the warp core. Starfleet Intelligence was brought in on the matter, and his entire squad was questioned. He took full responsibility, and violently insisted that his squad be allowed to return to their duty. The Intel people saw something in him (he still can't figure out what), and offered him a position in Intelligence.
Once his Intel training was completed, he was transferred out to the USS Infinity as a junior Intelligence Officer. He was already a Lt JG, based upon his Caitian military career, and that helped a little. It took him a while to get into it, but he had his share of assignments from Intel, and was moved to the USS Horizon and bumped up to Chief of Intelligence there.
In 2382, his cousin M'Karll R'Pas was assigned to the Horizon as a Flight Control Officer. His constant pirate talk, and general joviality somewhat annoys J'al from time to time, but overall he is glad to have family and yet another Caitian onboard.
Since he came onboard in 2381, J'al had been training under Admiral Clawson to be a Helm Officer. He was not certified to pilot the larger Starfleet ships such as the Horizon, and wanted to learn. Flying is his true love, and Intel was just a distraction. In 2383, following completion of the prescribed courses and due to the temporary retirement of the Admiral, Commander Chadwick happily promoted him to Lieutenant Commander, and assigned him as the Horizon's Chief of Flight Control.
Service Record (Caitian Air Defense Corps)
2370 - Joined the Caitian Air Defense Corps (CAC) as a pilot in training.
2372 - Graduated training and was appointed as a Lieutenant in the CAC.
2372 - Assigned to V'alaris Station in orbit of M'errsat(The 7th planet in the Cait system)
2372 - Fought in several major battles of the Dominion War as the Cardassian fleet tried to sweep through the Cait system and its neighbors.
2372 - Awarded the Silver Star (CAC) for actions in the Battle of M'errsat.
2373 - Fought in many front line battles as Starfleet forces required member world air forces to cover the losses from the initial Dominion onslaught.
2373 - Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (CAC) for actions on the front lines for two straight days of fighting.
2374 - Attatched to Starfleet's 43rd Fighter Group while still officially a part of the CAC.
2374 - Promoted to Lieutenant Major in the CAC for services rendered and an immpressive flight record.
2375 - Following the merger of the CAC and Starfleet Fighter Corps, he opted to go to Starfleet Acadamy to start a career in Starfleet. He was accepted mostly based upon his Caitian military career, but still passed the manditory aptitide test easily. Merged officers are offered placement at Starfleet Acadamy and are granted credits for their first year based on military background, starting out as 2nd Year Cadets.
Service Record (Starfleet)
2376 - 2nd Year Cadet - General Studies
2377 - 3rd Year Cadet - Tactical Studies
2378 - 4th Year Cadet - Aeronautical and Zero G physics
2379 - Purple Heart for injuries recieved in training accident. Award was allowed to be presented based on intervention by the training unit CO.
2379 - Lt. JG (1 rank automatic promotion from officer merge) - USS Yorktown - Fighter Pilot
2380 - Lt. JG - Starfleet Intelligence Transfer - Occupational Training
2381 - Promoted to full Lieutenant - Assigned Chief Intelligence Officer - USS Horizon
2383 - Promoted to Lieutenant Commander - Transferred to Chief of Flight Control - USS Horizon