Richard Rees Position: Commanding Officer Rank: Captain Race: Human Age: 42 Gender: Male Place of Birth: Welsh Valleys, Earth Character Appearance: Richard Rees sports a short crop of black hair and full beard that is starting to show signs of grey with age. His keen blue eyes have been known to pin people to the spot. Character Personality: He is known to remain calm even in the most tight situations, standing forward as a pillar of strength for those around him who would otherwise find their courage failing. Always thoughtful in actions, when time calls for it, he has been known to occasionally take risks but only if the end is justified by the means. He has a hatred of the Jem'Hadar who killed his first wife, though recent years have showed him to become more tolerant of them. Character History: Born in the Welsh Valleys, Richard, as a child, always admired starships and grew bored quickly of village life in Wales. As soon as he was old enough he joined Starfleet and went through academy before being assigned as helm officer onboard the USS Melbourne. He quickly rose through the ranks and proved himself well distinguished until the Melbourne was destroyed at the battle of Wolf 359 by the Borg. He was one of the few survivors from the vessel, leading many of the crew to safety who, to this day, owe him his life. Shortly afterwards he was granted a position as number one of the USS Edgewise, a Galaxy class starship assigned to scouting the perimeters of the Beta Quadrant. His service onboard the Edgewise proved very distinguished, dealing with two 'first contact' situations himself personally. He even got married onboard the Edgewise to a science officer named Anne. She was later killed by the Jem'Hadar onboard the USS Ritz. While investigating a number of pirate attacks, the Edgewise was crippled and her captain killed. It was thanks to Rees' leadership that the heavily damaged Galaxy-class vessel was able to not only resolve the situation but also to limp back to the nearest starbase. He was offered the command of a Nebula-class starship, the USS Ocean, which he took and was assigned to patrol routes around the neutral zones and abate many tricky situations. He commanded the Ocean against the forces of the Dominion during the war and though heavily damaged several times, continued to emerge victorious numerous times. The Ocean was even used in the final liberation effort of DS9 and the Bajoran wormhole, where by the ship suffered terrible damage. After the battle, the Ocean was decommissioned and Richard was assigned to Utopia Planetia to help Starfleet rebuild its once-proud fleet. Two years later, he was approached by Commodore Weiss and offered a position on the newly-formed Task Force One. Upon acceptance, Richard was given command of the Defiant-class vessel, the USS Savage, however, his command of this vessel was short lived after Dominion Forces destroyed the ship during it's first mission to investigate a science outpost in the Gamma Quadrant. Richard then went back to working for the ship yards, this time working for the San Francisco fleet yards in which he spear headed a new joint project with the Daystrom Institute in developing the new Vanquish class vessel. Two years later, he took command of the USS Vanquish, the first of this class, which was to originally intended to join the IDIC Gamma Project but through circumstances ended up being given orders to return home to continue being properly developed. While working in Task Force One, Richard was to become aquainted with a lady by the name of Commander Jasmine Rayne, XO of the USS Ticonderoga. A relationship blossomed and she transfered to the IDIC Gamma Project to become XO of the Juno space Station. Upon the Vanquish arrival at Juno, Richard proposed to Jasmine, which she accepted and a short time later, Jasmine managed to get a position onboard the USS Vanquish as the Strategics and Development officer. The two of them married at Lysander VIII a couple of weeks after her posting to the Vanquish (Fire and Burn Part Two). Character Starfleet History: 2355 to 2359 Starfleet Academy 2359 to 2361 Ensign, USS Melbourne 2361 to 2363 Lieutenant (jg), USS Melbourne 2363 to 2367 Lieutenant, USS Melbourne 2367 to 2370 Lieutenant Commander, USS Edgewise 2370 to 2373 Commander, USS Edgewise 2373 to 2375 Captain, USS Ocean 2375 to 2377 Captain, Utopia Plantia Fleetyards 2377 to 2377 Captain, USS Savage 2377 to 2379 Captain, San Francisco Fleetyards 2379 to 2379 Captain, USS Vanquish 2379 to present Fleet Captain, USS Vanquish