Zanntos ch'Aroom

**Zanntos "Zann" ch'Aroom** was a chan Andorian engineer and Starfleet officer.

## Biography

*See also Personal log, Zanntos ch'Aroom.*
### Early years

Zanntos was born and raised on Asteroid Del Alor 53328, an isolated Andorian research and mining station near Tzenkethi space. His parents gave him a name roughly meaning "lone wolf" in Federation Standard, emphasizing his solitary place on the asteroid as the only Andorian child. While a youth, Zann had a lot of unstructured time. His parents were employed as cooks, musicians, and teachers aboard the station. While not apparently demanding occupations, Zann's parents kept busy enough to see him only occasionally. The young chan was left to roam the station and would often find a secluded place to ponder and study.

He harbored some resentment towards his parents’ lack of attention, and as he grew older he turned to a study of Vulcan philosophers so that he could come to peace with his emotions. Zann also often found himself in science labs looking over experiments and reading any notes that he found lying around. At times, he would even leave his own hypotheses or suggestions to improve or further the research – always anonymously.

Though Zann did not take up any of the arts for himself, he did begin to appreciate his parents’ creativity. He observed them and the others on the station and learned to sense others’ moods, attitudes, truthfulness, and values through observation.

As Zann began to seriously consider his future, a fortuitous opportunity presented itself: a pair of Vulcan scientist from Starfleet came aboard the station. For several days he simply watched them. While many others on the station were impressed and intrigued with what the scientists had to say about Starfleet, Zann was filling in the holes from his study of Vulcan philosophy and culture with real-life observation.

Unbeknownst to him, one of the Vulcans, T'lea, was observing him just as closely. This continued until Zann could no longer contain himself and approached the pair to ask them his many questions regarding their culture and philosophy of peace, logic, and self. The two Vulcans were surprised at the depth of the young Andorian's understanding. Not only had he read the philosophers, he had truly understood in a way that they had never seen in a non-Vulcan. For the three months that the two scientists were on the station, Zann rarely left their side. To the Andorians who had known him his entire life, this was remarkable. Some had never heard Zann speak and now he was regularly heard conversing with the new arrivals.

After spending much time with Zann, T'lea convinced him to apply to Starfleet Academy. Although reluctant, Zann followed her counsel. He had gained a deep respect for his new Vulcan friends. He completed the initial application, and was accepted to the testing and interview phase. This was where he faced his greatest challenge up to that point in his life. Zann's application was rejected following rather anomalous results on the psychological testing. The test, in Zann's opinion, had been rather flawed. The Academy carefully tailored the exam to his upbringing in an isolated Andorian facility, but he had barely been raised by that culture. T'lea did not tell him this, but she believed Zann would have passed the testing for half-Vulcans.

Zann’s initial reaction to the rejection was indignation and retreat, as he had done for so many years. This was soon pushed to the side by something he had never experienced – his burning competitive spirit. In a bout of anger he applied to the Academy Admissions Appeal Board. Zann arrived with a lengthy and detailed presentation and the board reversed the previous ruling and suggested acceptance of his application.

After the appeal, Zann spent a week recovering in several of his favorite quiet spots. While he had discovered an inner fire, it had exhausted him in a way he had never before experienced.

### At the Academy

In 2365 Zann finally entered Starfleet Academy. He initially leaned toward the sciences, but T'lea, still serving as a mentor, encouraged him instead to take the operations track and to develop his leadership skills. Although he found it difficult to make friends, Zann did learn that he was a skilled leader and had a knack for engineering. He found that tinkering and working with computers and shuttlecraft felt similar to many of the botanical projects he had worked on back on the asteroid.

For a class project, Zann worked with T'lea to develop a personal scan scrambler. Most of Zann's free time was spent observing and analyzing the other cadets; learning from their interactions and training exercises. He also took classes in tactics as a prerequisite to potentially entering the Academy's Command School.

As he neared graduation, Zann applied for a posting in deep-space exploration. He received his commission as an ensign upon graduation in 2369 and was posted aboard the USS *Galaxy*, lead ship of the *Galaxy*-class.

### Aboard the *Galaxy*

While some of Zann's duties aboard the *Galaxy* seemed menial, he felt challenged, if drained, by his assignments to run training for enlisted personnel. He soon started giving extra training sessions, and even proposing improvements and entirely new exercises. The ship's executive officer, Commander Lenaris Los, noted measured improvement in the performance of the enlisted personnel in the new ensign's shift. He also noted some resentment toward Zanntos and the training his team did beyond that of other shifts. The commander was prepared to intervene and discipline several enlisted personnel for insubordination. However, by the time he met with the crewmembers, they all reported that they had spoken with the Andorian and were fully committed to the extra training. Impressed by the turn of events, Commander Los submitted a commendation for Zann's ability to resolve the concerns of his subordinates.

When Zann was not filling his duties, he usually found himself hovering around science labs aboard the ship. Commander Los was impressed with Zann’s scientific mind and aptitude to command. This trust led him to select Zann to join his away team to Seku VI to recover the missing crew of the runabout *Susquehanna.*

### Aboard the *Galar*

Soon after the rescue mission, Zanntos was promoted to lieutenant junior grade and transferred to the USS *Galar*, another *Galaxy*-class vessel. Due to a mix-up in transfer documents, the Andorian was assigned to work in engineering under Lieutenant Commander Tval. By the time the accident was discovered, Zanntos had already impressed his superiors and accepted to stay in his assignment.

Zann was part of a routine mission a few weeks later when their shuttle crashed on Xerxes IV. Taking command of the group, the lieutenant skillfully led them in rescuing a team of scientists and repairing the shuttle enough to make it back to the *Galar*. However, the exhaustion of more than 30 hours of constant activity left him drained and he collapsed into unconsciousness as the shuttle took off.

The shuttle arrived safely back aboard the *Galar* and Zann was taken to sickbay where he spent the next two days recovering from the ordeal. He was able to return to his duties, but felt emotionally and mentally drained. Even post-mission counseling sessions with Commander Jerry Edison did not break Zann of his self-disappointment at letting down his companions.

## Chronology

2345
Born on Asteroid Del Alor 53328
2365
Entered Starfleet Academy
2369
Graduated from the Academy; posted to the USS *Galaxy*
2371
Promoted to lieutenant junior grade; transferred to the USS *Galar*
## Appendices

### Connections

**Leadership:** Commander-in-chief • Joint Chiefs • Chief of Starfleet External Affairs • Chief of Starfleet Operations • Chief of Starfleet Research and Exploration • Chief of Starfleet Tactical

**Agencies:** Operations (Engineering • Judicial • Materiel Supply • Mission Operations • Personnel Management • Records Service • Shipyards Operations • Starbase Operations) • Research & Exploration (Science • Medical) • External Affairs • Tactical (Intelligence • Security • MACO)

**Notable units:** Ktarn Fleet • Task Force 77

**Facilities:** Deep Space K-7 • Deep Space K-13 • Deep Space 9 • Masamichi Array • Starbase 45-Keepsake • Starbase 82-Maat • Starbase 234-Beskerm • Starbase 247-Vershina

**Starship classes:** *Atlira* • *Ilthirin* • *Kloneeth* • *Kumari* (*Charal* • *Chimesh* • *Khyzon* • *Kuthar* • *Thozyn*) • *Omtil* • *Sevaijen* • *Shola*

**Agencies:** Starfleet • Diplomatic Corps • Department of Temporal Investigations • Federation Security Agency

**Facilities:** 40 Eridani A Starfleet Construction Yards • Antares Ship Yards • Beta Antares Ship Yards • Copernicus Ship Yards • Laikan Starfleet Shipyards • McKinley Station • Memory Project • New Aberdeen Shipyards • Proxima Maintenance Yards • Salazaar Shipyards • San Francisco Fleet Yards • TL-9139 Starfleet Maintenance Yards • Tranquility Base • Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards