Verats Taelin

## Early Life

**Verats Taelin** is the son of Mavak Taelin, a Tal Shiar officer who defected to the Federation during the Dominion War in an effort to give warning about the infiltration of the Alpha and Beta quadrant government’s intelligence agencies. Though ultimately unsuccessful in this task, Mavak was able to bring over his wife, Taveth, and newborn son. They settled in the agricultural region of Camor V, which was seeking help in repopulating the area that had suffered significant casualties during the Cardassian War.

Verats spent most of his childhood maintaining the large quadrotriticale plantation his parents had started when they arrived. Though knowing very little about farming themselves, they were very effective managers who gave room, board, and employment to refugees displaced by the Dominion War (many of whom had extensive agriculture experience). The constant influx of new people, ideas, and cultures made a strong impact on young Verats. He made many acquaintances among the constantly changing workforce and was often chided by his mother for spending too much time talking and not enough working. Towards the end of his secondary school education, Verats began to show a talent for xeno-medical arts as well as advanced understanding of shield mechanics. He began to work less in the fields and more in the plantation’s infirmary, mending the wounds of new arrivals in addition to those injured while working in the area. A visiting Starfleet officer noticed the young Romulan’s talents and recommended he apply to Starfleet Academy.

## Starfleet Academy

With his parents’ blessing, Verats applied and was immediately accepted into the Applied Sciences track of the Academy. Though his classmates were initially wary of Verats’ Romulan heritage, he quickly won them over with his impressive ability to integrate himself with them individually. Because of the many refugees he had worked alongside at his family’s plantation he knew exactly how to interact with those around him. He spent many late nights arguing the ethics of the Prime Directive with his Tellerite peers. The Vulcan students were impressed with his meditation habits and discussions of Surak’s teachings; and while he was never able to beat them, the two sets of Andorian twins respected his enthusiasm when he sparred with them. Though Verats was ahead of his classmates when it came to medical knowledge, he initially struggled with the astrometrics courses, due to having spent his entire life planetside. In spite of this, he eventually managed to graduate third in his class. Verats caught the attention of Fleet Admiral Gustan Flaze and was assigned to Ktarn Fleet straight out of the Academy.

## Assignment to Ktarn Fleet

The newly graduated ensign was assigned to the science department of the U.S.S. Galar under the command of Captain Tval. He impressed his new Vulcan commanding officer with his natural diplomatic talent during a patrol stop along the Neutral Zone where he peacefully resolved a potential hostage situation when a Romulan Imperial Navy vessel accused his away team of attempting to set up an illegal listening post. Verats exploited the fact that he was a Romulan, raised by Romulans outside the Star Empire, to establish a tenuous trust that bridged the gap between the two parties and cleared the misunderstanding without bloodshed.

Verats rose quickly through the ranks, and was assigned command of the U.S.S. Nightingale in addition to a position within Ktarn Fleet’s command structure.