The Baines family has been sailing the New England coast since the 1630s, first out of Massachusetts, then, a bit later, Maine. As time has passed, they've served in both the Royal and United States navies, in nearly every major conflict that has been fought on the oceans of Earth. Later, they moved on to space, as mankind made that move. Still, the family has never lost it's nautical roots, and family members still serve on naval vessels, as well as commercial ships.

Gordon Baines grew up under the weight of that tradition, and loved every moment of it. Almost from the time he could walk, he was on the family's fishing boat, every moment he wasn't in school. He soaked in all that hoary old Mainer lore and sea knowledge, revelled in facing a storm, and learned everything.

With his father, uncles, and cousins, he worked hard, lifting tons of fish from the ocean, working effectively the way the men of his family had for many generations. From that, he gained an affinity for the sea that has never faded.

At age 18, he joined the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. He graduated, with a degree in Oceanography, and joined the Submarine Service. During the long voyages in an attack submarine, he managed to complete his doctorate in Physics from Stanford. Not long after, he was seconded to NASA and the US Space Command, where he worked in the last days of those great organizations. When both were folded into the newly forming Starfleet, he followed right along.

He generally held staff positions, though he did command, for a time, the SS Cormorant, an in-system defense ship. Following the decommisioning of the Cormorant, he returned to Earth, and a position teaching Physics to incoming freshmen at the Academy.

When the NX class ships became a reality, he immediately applied for a posting to one, but wasn't reassigned. Taking it in stride, he applied himself to his teaching, until he suddenly was reassigned to Meridian.