Kalen

Kalen is a civilian diplomat on the USS Odyssey.

## Background

Kalen grew up on Betazed along with his Ambassador parents and sister, T’Pel. Where his older sister didn’t much get along with the very in tune with their emotions population, Kalen thrived. He didn’t possess the full telepathy of the full Betazoid children, but his empathy was strong, and he liked to sense others emotions, quickly finding he particularly enjoyed making people happy or to have laughter. Being able to sense their feelings made him good at it from an early age, and through practical jokes and being a bit of a class clown, Kalen was able to be very popular.

That all changed when his family transferred to Vulcan. The classes were harder, too much work for a boy who wanted to get out and explore the world, play outside, the Vulcan hostile environment not conducive to any of his interests. While T’Pel thrived in her classes, Kalen now found himself becoming distant.

As he grew up, his parents pressured him to go to Starfleet Academy, hoping he’d follow in their diplomatic footsteps like them, but Kalen had a rebellious streak, and the more they made it clear what they wanted, the more he wanted to do something else. It didn’t help with T’Pel exceeding in her schooling in the sciences. Kalen was very competitive, and if he couldn’t compete and knew it, he would take the easy way out and do something else.

One evening, he went to the spaceport, stowed away aboard a freighter, and took off on an adventure that would last a decade.

Kalen talked his way into odd jobs on a trading vessel. First, it was cleaning duties and mess work. He did a good job, made friends with the captain and the crew, and worked his way to be able to have a few bars of latinum to invest in some of the payloads. From there, he learned about arbitrage -- how some goods from some worlds would be worth more on other worlds that couldn’t produce them. That delta would be where the profit lay. He bought into a share on the trader ship and made his returns on the next run.

Now with a little money in his pocket, he was able to buy into a ship proper. This allowed him to be able to go on the trading missions himself, negotiate for goods and fill the holds as it allowed. Kalen was good at it. His empathic abilities made him able to sense exactly what his opponents wanted, and he became one of the most notorious traders in the alpha quadrant.

But he still wanted more. Kalen ended up in a seedy spaceport controlled by the Orion Syndicate in his mid-twenties, and there he learned about the underground world of gambling. People put up razy things for their antes -- body parts, ancient artifacts, slave girls, and even starships. Kalen was fascinated by this, and the rush he got from cards and dice was like none other. His first outing, he lost nearly everything he owned.

It didn’t take him long to make it back with his share on the ship, but he knew when he had been had, and vowed to be more shrewd. There, however, the Orions took interest in him and had him smuggle goods for them directly. Kalen never asked what was in the cargo, but he knew it was dangerous. They paid handsomely, which allowed him to get back into his gambling.

At the age of 27, Kalen won a starship in a card game.

With his own ship, he did the recruiting for the crew. He built the best trading group in the quadrant, and the profits flowed in like never before. He was on top of the world, though disconnected from his family in a lot of ways, their finding his work distasteful and a disappointment. It only drove him to work harder--he’d show them.

With T’Pel in Starfleet and being very successful now, Kalen wanted to one-up her. He started venturing further and further out with his trading vessel, venturing into unexplored space. It didn’t take a big organization to explore strange new worlds, and he wanted to prove it.

It worked well for him for the last couple of years. Of course, he would return to visit his ambassador parents and T’Pel from time to time, but it was awkward. He never really had long-term relationships, Kalen getting bored quickly and being too flighty to settle down, even though the men and women had been plentiful. Again, with Betazoid talents, he found it wasn’t all that challenging to hook up.

He started pursuing more and more adrenaline rushes, getting into strange environments, entering war zones. His crew didn’t like it, but Kalen wanted a thrill. Eventually, he ended up making first contact with a species as a civilian, something that irked Starfleet, but they gained trust in him because of his salesmanship and so he was allowed to continue.

The species, The Xerrin, were in an expanse that was of strategic value for dilithium mining, something Stafleet wanted to control. Intelligence approached Kalen and wanted him to act as an ambassador on their behalf to try to get the Xerrin into the Federation. They’d give him whatever authority he wanted.

Kalen thought it over and thought of the best troll he could have ever had, one which would shock his parents and his sister. He told intelligence he’d get them into the Federation, but he wanted a field commission for Starfleet.

Shocked by the request, intelligence made it happen. Kalen became an ensign in the fleet, under his own authority as a civilian captain at the same time. It was a strange situation but authorized all the same. About this time, Odyssey disappeared into the anomaly.

Kalen managed the negotiations and successfully coaxed the Xerrin to apply for Federation membership. He thrilled the operatives he worked with and made the news as a successful diplomat. His parents were surprised at the unorthodox actions but proud of him. He couldn’t wait to tell T’Pel.

But now the trading game seemed no fun. He’d already mastered it, already conquered all there was. He wanted a change. He gave his ship to his first officer, a generous move, but then went back to his contacts. They asked him what he wanted to do, and with a grin, he asked them if he could get a transfer to Odyssey in the diplomacy department. Intelligence pulled some strings and he joined the ship when they returned to spacedock.

## Appearance

Kalen stood at 5’11”, just a couple inches taller than his sister T’Pel. He had the same soft black Betazoid eyes and thin nose that gave him away as her sibling, along with Vulcan pointy ears. He refused the standard clean-cut Vulcan look though, preferring longer hair that fell over his neck and eyes, his ears poking through, and a soft goatee to differentiate him from others of his species.

## Personality

Kalen is a lighthearted prankster. He identifies far more with the Betazoid elements of his genetics, finding the whole Vulan logic routine to be tedious and boring. He loves to laugh, loves to have fun, but isn’t afraid to work hard either. Definitely the type to get into some mischief or trouble, but he’s also very personable, lending himself to sales or diplomatic functions.

## Psych Evaluation

Kalen’s been a wheeler and dealer for years. He’s smuggled goods, worked on his own, even had his own ship and crew for a while. He didn’t want the structure of Starfleet, the academy, tending to be a little rebellious, much to the chagrin of his parents, but he wanted freedom. Now, later in life, he’s finding his way back into the fleet and having to restructure his life.

## Medical

None. Unless there’s a cute doctor. He might fake one in that case.

## Other information

Likes:

* His sister (but don’t tell her!)
* Gambling -- dice games card games, he’s your guy!
* Adrenaline rush situations. He’ll throw himself into danger for the fun of it.
* Hot people

Dislikes:

* Stuffy Vulcans
* Authority
* People without senses of humor