Teylas Ramar

Early Life

Teylas Ramar was born on the Bolian homeworld of Bolarus IX to two teachers. With each passing year, Ramar felt a sense of wanderlust and a sense of requiring direction in his life. At 16, the minimum age that Bolians can join Starfleet, he enlisted much to the disapproval of his parents who had hoped he’d follow in their footsteps. Ramar quickly came to find the life of enlistment allowed him to travel far and wide but found his duties to be monotonous and unchallenging. During assignment as a shuttle pilot operating out of Starbase 12, he was able to find sponsorship to Starfleet Academy from the bases commander, Captain Palamas.

Starfleet Academy

8 months later when the new year started, Ramar shipped off to Earth and began his studies at Starfleet Academy majoring in engineering, warp theory, and advanced theoretical physics. Ramar was generally seen as cocky and overconfident by his professors in almost everything he did: a familiar trait for many Starfleet cadets. Many times his character traits helped boost his confidence in his ability to perform his duties. Although just as often it landed him in trouble. Taking a suggestion from one of his professors, Ramar decided to refocus his energy away from being in trouble and refocus is on an extracurricular, joining the Starfleet Academy swim team. His newly placed energy in an extracurricular activity helped him place in generally above average standings compared to many of his fellow team members. 

As a refocused student he was successful enough to gain entrance into cadet command courses in his junior and senior year. While not necessarily as interested in command as he was in his engineering studies, he enjoyed the courses nonetheless and took them at the face value career boost that they were. Ramar graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2335, cum laude, and awaited his first assignment.

Early Starfleet

A newly minted ensign, Ramar was assigned directly to the USS Hood. He served there for four years as a staff engineer. After the conclusion of this assignment as an engineer, Ramar was transferred to the USS Maryland as the assistant chief engineer, a welcome promotion likely boosted by his previous command course experience. He eventually garnered a promotion to lieutenant for his work within the management of the engineering department as a whole. His overbearing confidence was still showing its colors in a much more tamed and controlled version; he would often put his name forward as a volunteer for away missions and some of the more dangerous away team assignments. During his stint on the Maryland he gained many friends, and an ability to let his career pace itself out consistently.

After a few years on the Maryland, he was reassigned to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards to help in the development of what would eventually become the Akira-class starship. After two years of adding his engineering expertise to both the Akira-class development and the development of aspects of the Class-9 warp drive that would later usher in a new era of warp design for Starfleet vessels, Ramar was given orders to report to the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt as it’s new chief engineer.

Blossoming Command and Family

He took this time as a senior officer to also develop his skills in diplomacy, inter-species relations, and psychology in order to help prepare himself for the next step in his career: the bridge officer’s exam, which he finally took in 2347. Until that point, he had obtained his rank to lieutenant commander without fault, but Ramar knew it was time to expand his experience; the longer he put it off it would only harm his career more. He completed it on his second try and was promoted to first officer of the Roosevelt. It was also during his time on the Roosevelt that Ramar met his wife, a Bolian, who was a civilian chemist assigned to the ship’s science group. In a short period of time, they grew close and decided to wed, and even have a daughter, likely due to the deep space assignment of the Roosevelt and the closeness that forms on deep space assigned vessels.

His Own Command

By the beginning of Romulan reemergence in the early 2360s, Ramar had obtained a command of his own in the USS Omaha. The tiny Miranda-class was a small, overworked, and under staff ship but Captain Ramar made the most of his opportunity. While stationed along the Romulan Neutral Zone, he was also able to build his diplomatic abilities having to deal with opposing Romulan commanders on a daily basis and their routine incursions into the Neutral Zone. It was also during this time that the Omaha gained a certain amount of reputation among the Romulan vessels on the other side of the Neutral Zone, even gaining mutual respect between Ramar and several Romulan commanders. These experiences also gave Ramar a share of his skills in diplomacy, exploration, and tactical prowess with his crew. They were the next generation of Starfleet captains and needed just as much experience. It was also during this time that Ramar grew a certain fondness for the Romulan people, culture, society, and cuisine. 

The Dominion Threat

In late 2367, Ramar was reassigned to Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards to help take part in the new anti-Borg starship, the Defiant-class, while the Omaha underwent repairs at the same facility. This assignment lasted a little over a full year, in conjunction with the Omaha’s extensive repairs, where Ramar was assigned primarily to helping develop the weapons systems onboard the Defiant-class.

At the beginning of the next decade, the conflict with the Dominion was beginning to escalate. Originally the Omaha was scheduled to be decommissioned in 2371, however, with the new Dominion threat, Starfleet decided to refit many of its older vessels and reactivate the decommissioned ones. After a year worth of refits and repairs the Omaha was thrust back onto the front lines in the full-fledged war with the Dominion, and Ramar was put in command of an entire task force along the Federation-Klingon border to repel deep striking Dominion attack wings. Along with his promotion to task force commander, Ramar earned a battlefield promotion above commodore and straight to rear admiral.

Accepting command of the 12th Task Force within the Fifth Fleet put Ramar directly on the front against the Dominion. He decided to drop his wife and daughter off at Starbase 397 where he knew that they would be relatively safe against the Dominion front lines. After fighting on the front lines against the Dominion for almost eight months, Ramar’s ability as a Starfleet admiral, scientist, and diplomatic envoy was tested. The Omaha was ordered to report to Starbase 375 to help broker military treaties with both the Romulans and Klingons and their ship dedications towards the fight against the Dominion. He was successful and both empires dedicated 15% more ships to the war effort; the Omaha returned to the front lines and pressed the Dominion fleets. As the Allied forces grew closer to the heart of Cardassia, the news had spread that the Breen had joined the Dominion, and thus, the Dominion War. During one of the first engagements against the Breen, the Omaha was critically damaged and the crew was forced to abandon ship. As the escape pods made their way out of the main battlefield Ramar was forced to watch as the Dominion forces finished off the destruction of the Omaha, his first and most loved command.

A New Command for the Admiral

After being rescued by a Romulan warbird the crew of the Omaha was brought back to Starbase 397 where Ramar underwent a routine court-martial hearing for the loss of a starship. Being found not responsible due to extenuating circumstances of the Dominion War, he was instead promoted to the rank of vice admiral and given a new command. Assuming command of the USS Templar, the admiral brought his staff from the Omaha on board. He took the new Akira-class starship into the very heart of the conflict, leaving his family “safely” behind on Starbase 397 again; safe being a relative term at this point during the war. 

With his promotion in rank to vice admiral, Ramar was also assigned to command a division of task forces within the Ninth Fleet. With the fleets beginning to press towards Cardassia, the Templar was in the main hold of the fleet as the looming final battle approached. Surviving the war, and the battle, the entire crew of the Templar was decorated along with many other Starfleet officers as valiant, honorable heroes of the Dominion War. The conflict was over.

Return to Exploration

With the close of the war and the resumption of the scientific doctrine of Starfleet, Ramar finally brought his wife on board the Templar with his daughter beginning her tenure at Starfleet Academy. The Templar began scientific missions and Ramar went back to his pre-war grassroots as an explorer and scientist. Trying to put the past behind him, the admiral began on a three-year deep space assignment in the Beta Quadrant to begin to explore areas of space near the Romulan Empire which were previously unexplored. With a good portion of Starfleet helping the Cardassians rebuild, and the Romulans allowing scientific missions through some of their systems into unexplored, neutral territory following the war, it proved to make the pickings for exploration ripe for the crew of the Templar. The Templar returned with full data banks to unload for Starfleet Science. The Templar was refitted and repaired after its long journey then reassigned along the Cardassian-Federation border for Admiral Ramar to take up leadership in helping the Cardassians rebuild their lost empire. In 2383 the Cardassians had asked that all aid vessels be ejected from Cardassian space so that the Union may support itself. The Templar was one of the last starships to leave Cardassian space as the border was sealed back up by the now firmly in control Detapa Council.

At the beginning of 2384, Ramar was ordered by Starfleet Command to oversee a task group that was bringing much-needed supplies and crew relief to Deep Space Twelve. The Templar, USS Ares, USS Cerberus, and USS Hathaway made their way back to the frontier to make their delivery.

Ramar was then promoted to a full admiral and ordered to take up the position of Fourth Fleet Executive Officer. He accepted and stepped down as captain of the Templar, handing over command to his XO, Captain Amanda Toddman. In an unorthodox move, Admiral Ramar placed his flag of operations onboard Deep Space Twelve, whereas most Starfleet admirals would be found deeper into the core territories of the Federation; Ramar refused to leave the frontier that made him the officer he became. Only a year later he was promoted to Fourth Fleet Commanding Officer after Admiral Christopher Pike retired in a grand ceremony on Starbase Bravo.

The Romulus Crisis

Near the beginning of his tenure as Fourth Fleet Commander, the major powers had learned that the Romulan star was entering its last stages of life with an impending supernova paced to destroy the entire Romulan capital system. Ramar, like all the fleet commanders, was hesitant at first to dedicate so many resources within the Federation to help the Romulan Star Empire, who he believed were more than capable to resource their evacuation plans themselves. It was also during this time that Ramar was implementing sweeping reforms to the operations of the Fourth Fleet which refocused it towards the primary Starfleet goals of exploration and peaceful contact with alien worlds. The resources to implement both of these policies were just not available and Starfleet leaned towards synthetic lifeforms to complete the Romulan evacuation goal. On First Contact Day of 2385, the synths attacked and destroyed the rescue armada being formed at Mars, crushing any future efforts, and formally withdrawing the Federations offer for mass evacuation.

In 2386, Ramar stepped down as Fourth Fleet Commander to take control of a smaller task group that was given the mission of evacuating as many Romulans as possible with the few starships they had available. Ramar felt Starfleet was abandoning its diplomatic duty by abandoning the Romulans, but continued trying to ferry as many Romulans to other worlds as he could.

When the Romulan star finally went supernova in 2387, the Romulan evacuation was far from complete and Federation aid to the survivors all but dried up. Ramar, sensing there was nothing left for him in Starfleet and could potentially do more to help as a civilian, resigned.

Politics

The day after his resignation, he and his wife returned to Earth where he was appointed to a position within the Federation President’s administration as Undersecretary of Starfleet Exploration. In that position, he was able to help shape Starfleet policy which would shift Starfleet away from the war-like institution it had become thanks to the Dominion War and ongoing conflicts with the Borg. With what power he was able to influence Starfleet, he was also able to send hospital and relief ships to Romulan worlds in desperate need, but still a far cry from what was truly required. Ramar held the position through two administrations before finally retiring to civilian life.

Return to Fleet Command

In 2399, Ramar’s short retirement came to a halt as he was reactivated by Starfleet Command to retake command of the Fourth Fleet. A political scandal involving many of the top brass of the Fourth Fleet, ending in many courts-martial and resignation, created a huge vacuum in the Fourth Fleet command structure. Taking command as Fourth Fleet Commander and with so many vacancies in the fleet command structure, Fleet Admiral Ramar was given a lot of leeway to restaff and brought on many staff he was familiar with with the goal of picking up where he left off in fully tuning the Fourth Fleet back to the premier fleet within Starfleet and one of exploration, discovery, and first contact.