Ensign Dramin
Name Dramin
Position Paralegal
Rank Ensign
Character Information
| Gender | Male | |
| Species | Kelpien | |
| Age | 25 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 6'7.5" | |
| Weight | 80kg | |
| Hair Color | N/A | |
| Eye Color | Baby blue | |
| Physical Description | If you looked at Dramin’s sallow face you’d wonder when he last smiled. The answer is, by the way, often. Craggy lips are constantly fixed in some kind of scowl or at least some kind of neutral expression; a look many have come to associate with him by now. This makes him somewhat sad; he isn’t the naturally grumpy sort at all, it’s just the shape of his face! The soft baby blue of his eyes do make up for it some, though. Others sometimes comment on how nice they are but this is not common. Elsewise he is a typical lean, scrawny Kelpien male (though he’s slightly sensitive about the .5 of an inch he did not get). Casual dressing wise Min favors hoodies and jeans usually with hooved Kelpien shoes. No matter the situation, though, whatever he wears he keeps scrupulously neat and tidy; he is a fervent believer in dressing for the job in advance so to speak and believes sincerely that they who want to practise Starfleet law, especially under the Judge Advocate General, must look tidy and presentable most of the time if not all the time. That being said, for the love of God, someone get him a shirt that's not red, navy blue or green! Maybe growing up dressing simply in the Kaminar countryside had something to do with it. |
Family
| Spouse | N/A | |
| Children | None, and he doesn't want any. Yet. | |
| Father | Aradar (deceased) | |
| Mother | Kivias (deceased) | |
| Brother(s) | N/A | |
| Sister(s) | N/A | |
| Other Family | A sparse few cousins who all reside in rural Kaminar. |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Hardworking and focused if a bit shy and lacking in confidence best describes Min. Most of the drive that has kept him going comes from a great desire to make his parents proud - though they may no longer be around to see how far he's come. The rest of it comes from great desire to prevent personal tragedy to anyone else and to help deal with those that do. This is not to say that he pursues a career with the Judge Advocate General Corps driven by vengeance; he has long held a love for the legal industry and he hopes that it shines through in every aspect of his studies. There has never been any real question that this young Kelpien will go far if he tries hard enough; his work ethic and methods have never been in question and it shows in his performance both in and out of the office he rarely ever leaves. He does lack confidence somewhat, though; less so than during his cadet days where he was quite shy. He still is shy, mind, but he makes conscious effort to be less so. Usually. A tidy look leads to a tidy mind - and Min is a firm practitioner of this belief. His quarters can be found to be scrupulously neat and organized at all times and so is his manner of dressing. He thinks that it helps him to keep his life organized and it’s worked. So far. Min has only ever had very few friends - which is fine by him. He doesn’t really need a lot of people in his life, at least in his own opinion. He tries to socialize and meet others when he can, though, as a personal reminder of who he is to one day serve and protect as a member of the Judge Advocate General Corps. He treasures whoever comes into his life in a positive way greatly; he knows how precious their lives are and in the same vein how unpredictable life can be from personal experience. |
|
| Strengths & Weaknesses | + Hardworking + Very, very knowledgeable, especially in the areas of legal expertise he covers. + A good cook. He finds it therapeutic. - Occasionally forgets to eat and drink if he's really, really absorbed in a task placed before him. This happens less so nowadays, with experience and time to learn to take care of himself. - Will occasionally work to burnout. - Socially awkward. Perhaps the passing of vahar'ai might change this. |
|
| Ambitions | *Command his own starship someday. *Settle down with someone he loves - though finding this person hasn't been easy so far. |
|
| Hobbies & Interests | * His work - though time in service has taught him to find better things to do with his time such that he doesn't always burn out. That said, old habits tend to die pretty hard. * Reading. Dramin is very widely read indeed, on a variety of topics. * The occasional track and field sport on the holodeck, which he partakes in to maintain his personal fitness. |
| Personal History | Dramin by all means had a nice life growing up in a countryside town on Kaminar, reasonably advanced but not quite as that of the main cities. His father would teach him the basics of what he needed to know in life while his mother took care of his health and well-being the best she could and kept him well fed. It was almost the dream combination of parents in anyone’s eyes. His childhood was spent largely buried in books and reading (his father’s efforts) all manner of works, including those from Earth, Andor, Tellar and beyond that still. He discovered early on into childhood (unsurprisingly) that he found books easier to understand than people; at least with books they had a plotline you could follow. Speaking of his childhood, Min did not have very many friends. He preferred to spend his time alone reading or studying than socializing with others. His parents did the best that they could to try and remedy this; music, creative writing and other such hobbies were introduced to him early, through which they hoped that he would meet others with similar interests and hopefully widen his social circle that way. While things certainly seemed peaceful on Kaminar, surface level at least, they really weren't. While by and large most Kelpiens were supportive of the new Kelpien-Ba'ul Alliance, there still remained a portion of society who opposed the idea, believing that the alliance went against the natural order of predator and prey. For many years they remained a small yet vocal group, opposing the governing body of the planet and its decisions, largely not too obtrusive… ...at least, until the day of Min's 15th birthday. It should have been a normal birthday dinner at a local café, just Min and his parents. He would've never suspected that the four Kelpiens sitting and talking in the corner seat had antiproton pistols under their clothes and had plans to terrorize the shop. He didn't expect them to pull out their weapons at the height of the dinner crowd and begin firing at the patrons when the café was at its fullest and certainly didn't expect to be hit in the back, the antiproton particles burning a hole through his shirt. He next felt an arm wrap round his throat, fabric soaked with some kind of chemical pressed to his nose, the sharp tang of chemicals up his nostrils… All went black. When Min next awoke he wasn't in the café anymore. He'd been taken to a house goodness knows where, where he'd been tied at the legs and handa and laid out on the floor with another five Kelpiens - including his parents. The four Kelpiens from before were roaming the room, talking into a communications array. They sounded aggressive and were making demands; to whom he didn't know. And oh, goodness gracious, they were shooting people, perhaps as a threat. He watched with horror as they fired upon and killed three of their hostages. It was horrifying to watch and hear: the screaming, the convulsing and then the horrible, rending silence before the firing started again. Then they moved on to his father, and eventually his mother. No. No, he could not lose his mother, too. Even with his hands and legs bound he clung to her hand the best he could. He pleaded with their kidnappers, begged them not to take his mother too, for all the utter lack of good that did. And of course they didn't listen - another round of arguing with whoever they were talking to later the barrel was at her head. Their kidnapper opened fire. A momentary scream that terminated too fast. The dull thump of her body keeling over onto the floor. The sensation of her hand growing cold in his. It was all too much for the teenaged boy. Again, all went black. He barely registered the sound of doors being thrown open and shouting. He didn't know how long had passed when he next awoke. Now he was in a hospital gown and the light right above his face was far too bright. At his bedside was a law enforcement officer and a nurse, both of whom were gazing worriedly down at him. The news was given to him simply: he and his parents had been kidnapped as part of a campaign against the local government. Min didn't need the officer to say why they'd started killing their hostages. He could guess why from the context. Seeing as he had few physical injuries he was swiftly discharged from the hospital and sent to live with his uncle and aunt in the capital city. The days that followed were hardly easy - in fact the proper term would be nightmarish. Literally. It was not uncommon for him to wake at night sobbing and crying and pining for his parents that would never come, having re-lived the entire ordeal of watching, then feeling five people die in nightmare form. During the day he would lay in bed or sit at the breakfast table to eat in complete silence, unconversational except when taken to the hospital for counselling and psychiatric therapy. His friends would visit sometimes to see how he was, only to find that he had no desire to see or talk to them for the time being. It would be several months of counselling and therapy and so on later when he was declared reasonably fit to return to school - possibly a mistake, on hindsight. Min positively buried himself in his studies, desperate to catch up on all the content he'd missed. He would attend school regularly of course, but everyone could see that he'd changed. Make no mistake, the Irminsul they know had been quiet and introverted already; but at least that one had been somewhat conversational. Now he'd become nearly nonverbal, only speaking when called upon or at regular counselling sessions and even then he sounded dead. Outside of class he would hide himself in the school's garden, sitting under a tree with his textbooks open in his lap and studying furiously. Whenever anyone met the young man's eyes he would immediately break contact, turn away and scurry off if he could. At times he would snap at his friends to stop trying to talk to him if they persisted with their efforts - behavior that swiftly tacked the word 'former' onto his friends. Yes, it was harmful and yes, it hurt to push them away but at least the studying and the worry of a test and excelling on such the next week was enough to stave off the dreams somewhat. It would be the rest of the year of this regular pattern of behavior before Irminsul saw that he couldn't possibly go on like this. He nearly had a heart attack when he looked upon his final grades; he'd somehow made it through that year of school but only by the skin of his teeth in spite of all the studying he'd done. Rubbing salt in the wound was the fact that now he had no one's shoulder to cry on save his uncle and aunt's. All his friends had by now stopped contacting him, possibly afraid of another lashing out or being avoided again. For the first time in his life he was nearly truly alone. He allowed himself the rest of the day to cry over his grades - and then he decided that it was time to rebuild. No matter how long it took. The next few years to get himself to a semblance of baseline were hardly easy; in fact they were painful to live through and choking, almost. The process started by regaining his classmates' trust - apologising to them, forcing himself to look them in the eyes when they talked to him and even forcing little smiles. Smiles helped the mood after all. He also began to attend counselling regularly; opening up about the incident was by no means easy of course. Why would it be? Things began slow, especially after graduating from secondary education and moving on to a tertiary institution in the capital city. It was here that Min developed a like for athletics and public speaking; he joined the school track and field team and for some time took up debating. Thankfully this time his classmates were quite a bit more understanding and willing to give him space where it was due. Tertiary wasn't quite enough though; Min knew he had bigger goals ahead of him to reach for. The idea of going into space and doing good by other people was a noble goal, he reckoned, and Starfleet was where he thought his destiny lay - namely with the Judge Advocate General Corps following some further reasing on his part. The tricky part, though, was getting in - and that first started with grades good enough to admit him to the entrance exam. Sure, he wasn't exactly at proper baseline and still attending counselling but he'd be damned if he didn't try. So at nineteen years old, with the blessing of his uncle and remaining family he set off for Earth on a civilian transport with no small amoumt of trepidation in his chest. Here he was, about to venture into this much, much bigger unfamiliar world, the cusp of possible greatness - but he wouldn't actually get there until he tried. Arriving at Earth Spacedock, suffice to say Min was a bit starstruck and possibly overwhelmed. Everything was big. And colorful. And spacious. Mmm, the food he'd definitely (accidentally) mispronounced in this random restaurant and inhaled on a grumbling belly was absolutely delicious and smelled heavenly, 10/10 would come again. And the people were so diverse! He checked into a nearby hotel room in San Francisco (with much difficulty and stuttering, he'd never had to do it himself until this point) and spent the next few days studying. He did also take time to explore the San Francisco city area, though - if he was to study here for the next four years he'd do well to familiarise himself. Entrance exam day came soon enough. Min proceeded to the test venue, sat for the notoriously difficult exam… and then proceeded to get hopelessly lost trying to find his way out and needed to be guided to the exit by a professor. Yes, wonderful first impression. His hard work paid off, though - his test results came back that night and he could not have been happier to see that he'd passed. The hotel resident next door probably wasn't pleased about the little dance he did in celebration, however. Day one on campus as a cadet was possibly the scariest thing of his life. His classmates in the command division were all incredibly brave, incredibly driven and even incredibly smart. All things Min himself wasn't very except maybe smart. He was no stranger to hard work though, nor to using sheer hard work and determination to bridge the gap. So that was what he did thereon - where he could not find understanding in his subjects he would earnestly ask or seek after-lecture consultations, sometimes he would approach his classmates for help, difficult as that still was to an extent for him. ECA recruitment came soon enough. Min was delighted to find out that there was already a pre established track and field club and debate society - things he was already familiar with. His chance to shine at the former came at tryouts… and what an effort he made, leaving the other prospective members in the dust. The team was only too happy to take him in. The debate society, however, was a little more sceptical when he came to their orientation session. Min didn’t exactly present as a debater: he was relatively shy and not very outspoken at first glance and had trouble meeting people’s eyes as a baseline. So he surprised them at the first training session - the orientation session was meant only as a taster after all, any and all who fancied staying and continuing on could do so, those who didn’t could leave at leisure - by calmly standing at the lectern of the auditorium the group used and delivering an astonishingly coherent and impactful debate speech. Sure, he didn’t win the round but it was a start, and nothing would stop him. He would go on to represent Starfleet Academy in two separate competitions and return with medals in the coming years. He was privileged to be assigned to the headquarters of Starfleet’s JAG for his practical internship, during which he would be attached to hard-nosed but experienced Starfleet prosecutor lieutenant-commander Narai Dal Shan. Working for the Grazerite officer was possibly one of the most stressful things Dramin had ever had to do; he had exacting standards when it came to the work he delegated to his subordinates for one and had negative tolerance for slipshod work. In short: give him the paperwork he wanted the way he wanted it or be ripped apart, because that paperwork could just save a life. Dramin nearly turned to mush under the pressure, so mammoth was it, but Shan turned out to be a mentor and friend to the young Kelpien when he needed it the most, and for that he was immensely grateful. The Horta would even attend Dramin's graduation and commissioning ceremony. After commissioning Dramin was posted to the Judge Advocate General's headquarters on Earth; he would spend his first few years of service there before being reassigned. |
|
| Service Record | 2383: Enters Starfleet Academy's Command track as a Cadet. 2387: Commissioned as an Ensign; posted to JAG HQ 2387-2390: Attorney, JAG HQ, Earth Dramin is a recipient of the Course Commandant's Coin for his third-year cadet thesis on Andorian law. |