Ensign Lester Garriss

[Dangelus]

Character's Name: Lester Garriss
Position: Engineering Officer

Stats

Born: Stardate 27685.4
Place Of Birth: Proxima Centauri Colony
Gender: Male
Species Of Origin: Human
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Dark Brown
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 190
Skin Tone: Olive
Telepathic and Empathic Status: None
Body: Athletic
Face: Oval
Marital Status: Single
Children: None
Habits: Cracks fingers when stressed.
Quarters: Neat and tidy, very few personal possessions on display.
Likes: Admires Vulcans and their culture. Discussing scientific subjects with like-minded people.
Dislikes: 'Over the top' loud personalities.
Ambitions and Goals: Believes his analytical mind and intelligence make him suited for command. He is probably wrong.
Temperament: A private person who keeps his emotions in check and struggles in relationships with others.
Hobbies: Kal-toh (he's not very good, to his annoyance), inventing and tinkering.

Family
Mother: Julia Garriss, Assistant for the Federation Council currently assigned to Earth
Father:  Donald Garriss, Engineer at Proxima Centauri Colony (Deceased)
Siblings: None

Character History

Lester Garriss was born at Proxima Centauri Colony, one of the earliest human colonies that pre-date the forming of the Federation. His father's family is descended from one of the original founding colonists and was an engineer at the colony. His mother works with the Federation Council and is currently on Earth.

Growing up Lester was a quiet child. He had no siblings and often played alone. Lester would rather read a book than play outside with other kids. He was a curious child who liked to know everything about things that peaked his interest. Science was his favourite subject and by six years old he could recite the Federation member worlds and knew what class they were. He was advanced in school which caused tension with the other kids. He struggled to make friends and became quite distrustful of everybody, even those who were friendly with him.

When Lester was sixteen years old his father was accidentally killed by a plasma conduit explosion. His mother took a position with the Federation Council at their Vulcan Headquarters. The death of his father and relocation to Vulcan took its emotional toll on Lester. He had spent a lot of time with his father. His mother always seemed busier with her work so it was his father who monitored him academically. It was his father's background that inspired Lester in his interest in science and technology. He knew his father wanted him to carry on the family line as an engineer at the colony. His father did not understand that Lester wanted more from life. He did not want to spend his life at the colony replacing power regulators; he wanted to learn about the galaxy.

He felt guilty for not following his father's wishes and felt distant to his mother. Lester was more alone than ever.

Due to his academic skills Lester was enrolled at the Vulcan Science Academy and could not believe how disciplined and advanced his fellow students were. Of course he knew all about Vulcan and its people but to experience it first hand was something different altogether. For the first time in his life he felt below average but there was no need to try to fit in, to worry about what the others felt about him. They just didn't, it was not.... logical. He began to realise that living in a world where emotion is not expressed was an advantage. Lester allowed his confused feelings to bury themselves and was motivated to perform by the disciplined Vulcan minds around him.

It had been two years until his mother had noticed the change in him and became concerned. Even then it had taken a declaration from Lester to his mother that he wanted to live life as a Vulcan. She had the upmost respect for Vulcans but her son was not Vulcan. She spoke to S'ron, a Vulcan tutor at the science academy.

S'ron agreed to meet with Lester and his mother. S'ron informed Lester that "Humans cannot invest in the mental discipline that is the key to success. It takes a very disciplined mind. Vulcans do not just suppress their emotions; they must know them intimately to control them. You do not control your emotions. Your apparent lack of emotions is just an emotional response in itself. Seek assistance with your kind. "

Lester and his mother relocated once more, this time back to Earth, where his mother was born. After agreeing to counselling Lester was accepted into Starfleet Academy based on his academic record and a letter of recommendation from the Vulcan Science Academy. He excelled in the sciences and graduated in the top five percent of his class.

Although he has been on active duty for a number of years he has failed to gain much promotion. Lester no longer has regular counselling sessions.

[wraith1701]

Great character profile Dangelus; I like it!    Garriss sounds like an interesting character.  Can't wait to see him in action on the Arabella!  :)

[Dangelus]

Great character profile Dangelus; I like it!    Garriss sounds like an interesting character.  Can't wait to see him in action on the Arabella!  :)

Thanks!

Got a few weeks to flesh out some more back story.... watch this space!

[Dangelus]

Earth.

Lester had only been to Earth once in his life. His mother had taken him as a child once when she was attending a diplomatic review at Federation headquarters. He never got a chance to leave the compound. Now he was living on Earth.

They were assigned a residence by the Federation Council in San Francisco in an area designated to families attached to the diplomatic corps. The first thing Lester did was to organise his quarters. He had been given computer access and he had a bed. He was content. Most of their belongings would be shipped to them later that day but he was not concerned. He didn't have much in the way of personal belongings, most of the things he cherished were computer files; his designs and records that he had worked for many years from childhood.

His mother had arranged counselling sessions for him. She was concerned that his attempt to purge his emotions on Vulcan after his Father's death was a 'cry for help' as she put it. He was certain she was wrong. He had always admired Vulcans. Their intellect and their logic had always had a strange attraction to him. Perhaps it was because he was never the most emotionally vocal of people that the Vulcan culture held such a fascination for him. He was sure his new counsellor would be able to see that what he was attempting was a perfectly logical course of action. Lester was eighteen now and perfectly entitled to make his own decisions. He agreed to the counselling for his mother's sake of course. He wanted her to see that nothing was wrong with him.

[Dangelus]

Mr. Nelson looked at Lester as if he was trying to solve a puzzle.

"You are... Human aren't you?" Lester enquired. He sat rigidly in his seat at the counsellor's office.

"Yes, why do you ask?" replied the confused counsellor.

"I suspected you may be a telepath as you were staring at me quite intently. You are listed as Human in the database but I thought in prudent to double check." Lester looked at Nelson briefly before averting his gaze.

"I see." Counsellor Nelson suppressed a smile. "One hundred per cent Human as far as I know, and no telepathic abilities I'm afraid. Would it bother you if I was?"

"I would prefer to choose the particular thoughts I may wish to share with you, Counsellor." Lester made it clear. "Now, please make your enquires of me as I am sure we both have other things to do." He began to press his thumb down sequentially on each finger of his left hand which caused some of them to make a cracking sound.

"That's not really how it works, Mr. Garriss." said the counsellor noticing Lester's gesture.  "These sessions work best if we just have a conversation, as you would with one of your friends."

Lester could tell the counsellor was fishing. "I... have only been on Earth for three weeks. I have yet to make any acquaintances. To be frank, I find those sorts of relationships quite distracting and time consuming. My studies and research occupy too much of my time to allocate any significant amount to friendships."

"Hmmm... Are you confident that your application to Starfleet Academy will be accepted?"

"My credits from the Vulcan Science Academy make the application a formality, confidence is unnecessary." Lester stated abruptly.

"Your psych evaluation is an important part of the process you know." Nelson countered.
"I am aware of that Counsellor." Lester cracked his fingers again.

"Then we have some work to do." Nelson picked up a PADD and pressed on it. The PADD produced a sound that Lester recognised. It was the sound that accompanied the 'record' command. "Let's talk about friendships..."