Sam Lavelle Lieutenant junior grade Sam Lavelle was a 24th century Human Starfleet officer posted to the in the early 2370s . History . As an ensign , Lavelle shared quarters with his friend Taurik on board the " Enterprise " - D , something he was not always happy about . He was also the conn officer on the alpha shift . Besides Taurik , his circle of friends included Nurse Alyssa Ogawa , Ensign Sito Jaxa , and Ten Forward waiter . The group had regular poker night s , sometimes including Ogawa ' s fiancé , Lieutenant Andrew Powell . Powell was one of the worst poker players that Lavelle had ever met . Lavelle was career - oriented and driven and most wanted a promotion . In 2370 , he was up for the operations officer position , in competition with Sito Jaxa . Although he was the obvious choice for the promotion , his uncertain relationship with his commanding officer William T . Riker somewhat got him off to a rough start . Lavelle was always nervous around him and Riker took the opportunity to criticize small issues , to Lavelle ' s general embarrassment . Lavelle ' s friends thought he was just imagining the situation , but Lavelle believed that Riker did not like him and had it in for him . Even though Lavelle tried to get on Riker ' s good side and had an immense amount of respect for him , Lavelle believed Riker to be uptight , once stating that Riker probably slept in his uniform . Ben once encouraged Lavelle to introduce himself and get to know Riker . However , Lavelle ' s interaction with Riker was awkward and short - lived : on the basis of erroneous information from Ben , Lavelle had believed Riker to be from Canada , like his own grandfather , and struck up a conversation with Riker . But when it turned out that Riker was actually from Alaska , a much embarrassed Lavelle quickly retreated , regretting having once again said the wrong thing . Lavelle was sure that he would not get the promotion if it was up to Riker . Riker saw these incidents as no more than attempts by Lavelle to ingratiate himself . However , Counselor Troi pointed out to him that he and Lavelle were a lot alike and that Riker should not hold Lavelle ' s inexperience with such matters against him . Troi ' s advice convinced Riker , who decided that he may have been too hard on Lavelle . After Sito ' s disappearance during an away mission , Lavelle was eventually promoted to the ops position and to the rank of lieutenant junior grade , although his success was bittersweet because it was accompanied by a certain amount of guilt . His friends told him that Sito would have been happy for him and that the best way to honor Sito ' s memory would be to excel in his new position . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The character concept of Lavelle was devised by Ron Wilkerson and Jean Louise Matthias , who wrote the story of together . " " They came up with the character to pair with Riker , a young hotshot , " " said René Echevarria , who wrote the episode ' s script . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 25 / 26 , No . 6 / 1 , p . 79 ) Sam Lavelle ' s name came from two sources : a close friend of René Echevarria and Ron Wilkerson ' s Canadian Labrador Samwell . ( " " ) It is unknown whether Lavelle ' s full given name is Samuel , as the " " bios written by Mike and Denise Okuda claim . His name was spelled " Lauelle " in the first draft script . The final draft script of " Lower Decks " describes Lavelle as being in his " early to mid - twenties " at the time of the episode . The script goes on to say , " " Lavelle is bright , handsome and personable - - think of Riker twelve years ago . " " Lavelle was played by actor Dan Gauthier . " " He had , he has a ' young Riker ' vibe , " " observed René Echevarria . " " You know , that was definitely by design [ . . . ] He ' s very charming . " " Denise Okuda agreed , " " Yeah , he ' s really very good . " " One element which she found " interesting " was that , in Lavelle ' s final scene , Gauthier can be seen doing what the Okudas referred to as " the Riker Maneuver , " swinging one of his legs over a bar seat before sitting down . ( " Lower Decks " audio commentary , TNG Season 7 Blu - ray special features ) Apocrypha . The game " Starship Creator " states that Lavelle was born in 2352 , though this would make him only about eighteen at the time of " Lower Decks " . This may indicate that he is precocious and further supports the belief that Starfleet entrance eligibility is not dependent on biological age but rather intelligence level and relative mental maturity . According to his biography , Lavelle was born in Tycho City , Luna to parents Rebecca and Irving Lavelle . He has a brother named Peter . In " Heart of Darkness " , a comic book of the " Star Trek Unlimited " series , Lavelle was mentioned as ascending to security chief of the with the rank of full lieutenant . In the novel series " " , Lavelle was serving with Taurik on the USS " Aizawa " after the outbreak of the Dominion War . The Pocket TNG " Behind Enemy Lines " novel mentioned that Lavelle and others from the " Aizawa " became prisoners of war of the Dominion , and " Tunnel Through the Stars " depicted his return to the Federation and wartime romance with Ro Laren . In an alternate timeline illustrated in the " Myriad Universes " short story " Brave New World " , Lavelle achieved the rank of lieutenant and was serving as flight controller on board the " Enterprise " - D by 2378 . In that timeline , he was romantically involved with Sito Jaxa .