Kurt Darkly
From FEInfobase
Template:Command Division CharacterKurt Darkly was the Commanding Officer of the progenitor to the Ark Royal class, USS Ark Royal with the rank of Captain in the early 25th century in the aftermath of the Borg War. (Star Trek: Ark Royal)
Before this, he had served as the Executive Officer on the USS Stargazer, before which he had a long career as a tactician and possible stragetist within Starfleet. The son of a career family, the life of Darkly has often been one of expectation, no greater now with the establishment of the USS Ark Royal.
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Character History
Early Career
Kurt joined Starfleet out of a need to please his father, a long time career Starfleet Officer. Growing up Kurt saw a wide variety of families; it underlined in his mind just how much his father did for him and his sister. By the time Kurt reached 18 years of age his father was in command of his own Intrepid Class starship, while his mother served aboard USS Potemkin as the ships Executive Officer. Sitting his Starfleet Academy Entrance exams he had one over riding thought, living up to the good name of his parents.
Unsurprisingly Kurt managed to pass his entrance exams on his first attempt, the weeks and months of preparation he had put in to them had paid off. At the academy he majored in Tactical Studies, 4 years later he graduated the academy and was promoted to the rank of Ensign aboard USS Moonwalker where he served as a Tactical Officer.
Kurt stayed aboard the Moonwalker for several years, onboard the ship he rose through the ranks and positions finally reaching Assistant Chief Tactical Officer. Eventually he left the Moonwalker in hopes of furthering his career, on his 30th birthday he realised he had almost no promotion prospects on the ship. 3 months later he transferred to USS Firefly to serve as that ships Chief Tactical Officer, the transfer came with a much desired promotion to Lieutenant.
Lieutenant Darkly stayed aboard the Firefly for 6 months, he felt extremely unsettled there and was always looking for something he couldn’t put his finger on. A transfer to USS Cain solved the problem for a few more months, again though he began to feel a longing for home. His problem was finding that home. Kurt finally found home months later when the Cain was placed in dry dock following a battle with a Borg sphere.
Mark of a Leader
From the moment Kurt beamed aboard USS Ascot he felt at home, within weeks he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and offered the chance to take the Bridge Officers exam. Kurt snapped up the CO’s offer as quickly as he could, by the end of the year Kurt had passed the exam, and he had been promoted to Commander and the position of Second Officer.
By this time the battle with the Borg was in full flow, the Ascot became involved with several major battles. The losses suffered by Starfleet grew each day, Kurt soon found himself bombarded with requests for him to take Executive Officer positions within the fleet. Before he had a chance to reply to a single offer the Ascot’s Executive Officer was killed on an away mission, Kurt wasn’t just the natural replacement for the deceased officer he was the only one considering the shortage that had put Kurt in demand in the first place.
His promotion to Executive Officer will forever be a bitter sweet memory for Kurt, on the same day as his promotion he received news that his father was missing in action. His ship had been lost with all hands last seen entering a dense nebula. Kurt, his sister and mother were distraught at the news. Each wanted nothing more than to resign their commissions and go searching for him. The weight of war and their promise to protect the Federation stopped them from doing it, instead each of them vowed to help Starfleet beat back the Borg before retiring.
The events of the war changed Kurt in a way he never thought possible, to the point where it became impossible for him to retire.
Kurt was only the Ascot’s Executive Officer for 6 months, in another battle with the Borg the ship was boarded and the Ascot’s commanding officer was killed. Still woefully short on officers Starfleet placed Kurt in command of the Ascot hoping that the ship would last long enough for them to put a more capable Commanding Officer in place. For three years Kurt remained the Ascot’s interim commanding officer before Starfleet finally promoted him to Captain and gave him the job.
The ship and her crew served Starfleet well right up until the Battle for Sol, it was there the ship finally met its match and Kurt was forced to watch his ship and crew captured by the Borg. Kurt has never been able to accept why he wasn’t assimilated too, his escape pod was unarmed and floating near to a Tactical Cube, yet still he was left alive.
Kurt was sectioned by Starfleet medical when he finally returned to earth, like many other officers he had given his life and his sanity in order to protect the Federation. It took six months of intensive treatment for Kurt to snap out of his post battle episode, when he did he almost broke down once more. The survivor guilt instilled in him was almost too much for him to take, rather than keeping him at Starfleet Medical it was decided Kurt should return to some form of light duty so he could be monitored and treated while still functioning as a normal human being.
Kurt stayed on earth from 2397 right through until early 2403 when he was finally declared ready to return to space, despite the frequent bouts of depression that plagued him. Starfleet Medical knew that only time would heal him now and keeping him on earth would only prevent that healing from occurring, so like with many other officers they sent him back out to serve on a Starship despite his problems.
Throughout 2403 he served onboard USS Stargazer as the ships executive Officer, for the latter half of the year he was under the command of one Aaron Carter. During that mission Kurt was racked with indecision about stopping Carter’s crazy actions and following the chain of command. Eventually the final decision was taken from his hands; Carter got himself killed during a battle with a Romulan vessel. This left Stargazer in Kurt’s hands a situation that was quickly ratified by Starfleet Command with the formal creation of the Second Fleet by Fleet Admiral Taylor.
Kurt found himself in the centre chair once again, this time with a new ship, a new crew and a new mission. Thoughts of finding his father were far from his mind, thoughts of loosing the ship and crew weren’t.
He knew one thing though, Starfleet had given him a mission to perform and by hell he and his crew would do it to the best of their abilities.
Kurts service to the Second Fleet were short lived after 6 months Starfleet officially decomissioned the fleet as part of it's political manuverings, all though the role filled by the fleet was still necessary it's ships were assigned back to the First Fleet. Along with a handfull of other starships Kurt found himself returned to Sol defence duties where he stayed for 6 months before finding himself re-assigned to Utopia Planitia along with USS Stargazer.
The Ark Royal
While the Stargazer was given a minor refit Kurt was transfered to the Ark Royal project, initially this was only to be for the duration of the Stargazer's refit however his secondment grew with the theft of the Stargazer by Bryan Cash's Renegade Armada. Initially Kurt hated this fact as he yearned to be back amongst the stars, again though his feelings were mitigated by the knowledge that he had been selected to command the vessel during its shake down cruise.
The shake down crusie passed without incident for many months, it was litterally the last few days of the ships shake down when disaster struck Kurt's command. Major Anna Polaris Squadron Leader of SFS-5 Ghost Riders was killed during a tragic training accident, a high impulse colision with the Ark Royal's hull meant she was beyond the point where the Federation's medical science could help her. Polaris' loss hit Kurt harder than he expected especially considering his own ingrained dislike for Star Fighter Command during the shakedown he had begun to open up to her more and more, the pair of them had even been out on a few dates together.
Going forward Kurt was surprised he was chosen to remain in command even after the terrible accident that occured on his watch.
Psychological Profile
A troubled man, Kurt Darkly hasn’t taken leave in over 8 years. The root of his troubles can be traced back to the Battle for Sol when he lost his entire crew to a Borg attack; survivor guilt has played heavily on him in the intervening years despite many hours of counselling it still greatly affects him on occasions he has been known to enter bouts of depression lasting days or even weeks.
Despite his deep routed fears, Kurt is adamant that he and his crew will do their duty to Starfleet. This often leaves him troubled by the nature of his mission, sometimes taking what the Federation needs doesn’t seem right to him, especially when people don’t want to give it up easily.
Although he hasn't mentioned anything yet Starfleet medical is worried the effects Major Polaris' death have had on Kurt, they were aware of his burgeoning relationship with the pilot. Starfleet Medical has instructed Ark Royal's counsellors to schedule a meeting with Captain Darkly at the earliest juncture.
Additional Information
Family
Commander Jason Darkly - Father - MIA since 2390
Captain Marietta Darkly - Mother - Retired from Starfleet, searching for Jason Darkly
Lieutenant Commander Jessica Darkly - Sister - Chief Engineer USS Akira