Patrick Ch'O'Leary (2227-2350)
Patrick Ch'O'Leary is a textbook example of the large, irreplaceable and largely forgotten body of NCOs, ratings and specialists who make up the majority of Starfleet's manpower pool. His own life experience as part of the last generation of "Boomers" characterised his place as the bridge between the old, emerging order of the 2220s and the new, established and threatened order of the 2260s.
Ch'O'Leary was a born and bred spacer; his parents (all four of them) were part of the last generation of "Boomers" who grew in between the stars, travelling on as fast as Warp 2 or 3. His two human parents were born aboard the E.C.S Star of Antrim, which was the last J Class transport ever built by the E.H.S.A Shipyards over Guiana. By the time he was born, his parents were commanding the S.S. R'vellar, a Rhine-type transport capable of holding Warp 4.5 for long periods of travel. As the child of the ship's Captain, XO, Navigation Officer and Steward, he was given free roam; by the time he was 12, Ch'O'Leary reckoned he'd explored every part of the ship except the inside of the warp reactor. By 14, he was serving as a junior engineering apprentice, learning the ropes of impulse and warp mechanics from skilled hands. As much as he adored the merchant mariners' life, he yearned for more. Starfleet was the only choice, but as a "spacer" he lacked the prerequisite qualifications for the Officer's Academy. Entry as a rating, however, was ideal, and despite his parent's reservations Ch'O'Leary would sign up for the Star Fleet at Starbase 17 in April of 2244; only a month after his 17th birthday. The coincidence of numbers stuck with him; he would consider seventeen a lucky number until his death. Ch'O'Leary raced through base camp and was immediately selected for NCO training, passing out as an Engineer First Class aboard the USS Ibis, a Tucker Class scout. He was immediately divisive: popular with senior officers and junior ratings, but a terror (and annoyance) to newly commissioned ensigns and overbearing mid-rankers. Within a year he was a junior petty officer, charged with impulse control and maintenance. In 2248 he was personally selected by Captain April to form part of the Shakedown crew of the USS Saladin, the prototype of a new destroyer class; O'Leary would remain on board for her next three patrols, first as a CPO in charge of the Impulse Engine Room, and (after passing through the master chief command progam) as the ship's Master Chief Petty Officer: the most senior NCO aboard. O'Leary's meteroic rise through the ranks earned distrust from many, and especially from other petty officers, who had languished in lower ranks while younger ensigns rose rapidly to their own commands. As CPO aboard the Saladin, he was the third youngest person on the bridge, and the youngest senior NCO in the Federation Border Patrol. The Saladin's crew called him "Paddy Boy" when they liked him, and "Blue Squirt" when they didn't. Starfleet had bent the rules to get him promoted, yes, but they needed Ch'O'Leary; his 17 years aboard the R'vellar had left him with more applicable space experience than most Captains. By the time he turned 30, O'Leary reckoned he had 2000 more hours of zero-g and EVA experience than the average Starfleet Officer; he also reckoned he had worked on more engines than anyone except Trip Tucker himself. Ships like the Saladin, with new experimental engine arrangements and complicated combinations of old technolgy were yet to hit the academy textbooks; the body of practical knowledge that existed within the enlisted personnel was vital for keeping them spaeworthy. As a crewman aboard the Saladin, O'Leary spent as much time teaching officers about mono-nacelled ships as he did tending to the difficult engine. During his time onboard, O'Leary would also be decorated with the Starfleet Award of Valor for "consipcuous bravery in the face of extreme danger" during the resuce of the TOAC (Tellarite-Orion Astronautical Corporation) vessel F.T.S Tintagel Castle. O'Leary's engineering expertise would prove crucial when he was transferred to the USS Malcolm Reed just before the Klingon War. A difficult war was followed by chaos on the frontier, with the Malcolm Reed on the frontline of the undeclared war with the Klingon Empire. In engagements like First Caleb IV and long operations like Kadis Khot and Omashu, the importance of Starfleet's NCOs was proved time and again. On several occasions during operation Omashu, O'Leary found himself leading mine-clearing operations in lieu of experience officers. He would also build a strong, if not friendly rapor with Captain Lance Cartwright, who would eventually go on to mastermind the Khitomer Conspiracy. In early 2264 O'Leary was transferred to Starbase 24, where he became the station's Chief of Operations. As base Chief, he was privy to many of the critical incidents and discussions in the run up to the organian war. SB24's position on the edge of the line of contact made it a vital strategic position, and O'Leary's work in designing and implementing SB24's minefields and defense grids was vindicated by the disasterous Klingon attack on the base. It was also the place where he met and married his wife, Ivy Knightwick, who served as his deputy chief of Engineering aboard the station. O'Leary would remain at SB24 until 2272, when he was transferred to the Decatur/Belknap Class ship USS Kimberly Scott. Once again, O'Leary found himself acting as troubleshooter on another technically difficult vessel as his engineering teams attempted to iron out all the bugs in the Scott before her final refit to Total Modification Programme (TMP) standards. Again the heavy lifting was done by the NCOs and ratings, whose lengthy experience with difficult engines allowed them to get the Scott ready for refit in less than 14 months, notwithstanding the attempted theft of the vessel by a Romulan strike team. O'Leary would stay with the Scott throughout its 2281-2283 refit and first deployment. However, when the Scott was re-assigned to the 7th Fleet Rapid Reaction Force after Operation Pai-Sho, O'Leary was passed over for Chief of Engineering by it's new captain. He instead took up an offer to teach at the Starfleet Engineers School on Luna, where he taught field engineering and EVA repair classes from 2288 until 2296. In 2297 he accepted an offer to become head of engineering at the Annapolis NCO school, a position he held until his retirement in 2310. O'Leary would retire to his family's traditional home in Waterford, Ireland, where he would pass away at 123. Patrick Ch'O'Leary's long and storied career is testament to the varied and vital lives of Starfleet's non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel. Unlike the officers of the Star Service, enlisted careers see them move frequently from assignment to assignment, with their skills and experience carrying more weight than their personal connections. However, they are the unsung heroes of Starfleet. Even Admiral Nogura, whose promotion of the "every crewperson an officer" mentality helped suppress the public image of the enlistee, held them in high regard. "I would rather have one old, crusty NCO on my ship," he once said, "than ten Ensigns with fifteen PhDs between them." |
InformationFull Name: Pádraig Thavanichent Shonnath Ch'O'Leary
Born: 14th March 2227 (Deep Space, 4.5 LYs from Anchorpoint) Died: 8th May 2350 (Waterford, Ireland, Earth) Affiliation: United Federation of Planets Branch of Service: Federation Merchant Marine; Federation Star Fleet Service History
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Excerpts From "The Edge of Midnight"
With the two Escort Groups spread out in a wide defensive position across the orbits of Calebs II-V, it was paramount that significant force was concentrated to defend the Starbase as soon as possible. This was not difficult – but it would mean losing the sensor net that had been thrown out over the last three days. Reluctantly, Bavv-Mollen conceded that keeping Kyber Pass intact was the priority. The shuttles were recalled, and their parent ships were ordered to make best speed for Caleb IV. By 1640 – 15 minutes before the expected arrival of the Klingon fleet – the six vessels guarding Kyber Pass had been reinforced by a further eleven, including the Malcolm Reed. Aboard the Reed, Ch’O’Leary could feel the tension as the ship readied itself for battle.
As the Chief Engineer, his job now was to keep the ship’s systems – defensive and otherwise – functioning for as long as possible. It was not an easy task – especially with the Capella class, where much of the control systems still functioned on the same principles as the Archer-Type warp 5 engine. “You had to watch everything – everyone did. There was no way for one person to monitor everything – I had seven personnel just for system monitoring. It was better than the alternative, though.” Ch’O’Leary was right – as much as the Marvick drivers were “bloody fiddly”, as Montgomery Scott famously put it, they were incredibly resistant to cascade power failures and easy to repair if things did go wrong. Either way, the Malcolm Reed wasn’t able to take its chances. Like all the other ships, it was no match in a one-on-one engagement with the Imperial Battlecruisers, but if the lighter vessels could combine their firepower, they might be able to blunt the Klingon assault for long enough that the heavier vessels under Drake could come to their aid.
The first Ch’O’Leary knew of the Marco Polo’s sighting was when the Red Alert sirens started blaring. “Captain Cartwright’s voice came over the tannoy, telling us the enemy had been sighted on the edge of the system. We expected more, but that was it. I won’t lie, it didn’t make any of us more comfortable.” The Malcolm Reed’s engineering crew did the best they could to prepare for action, however, battening down the hatches, preparing override and bypass circuits, and securing and shutting down non-essential systems, but after that had been done, they had to simply sit and wait. “We just wished we knew more about the Klingon force, except that they were coming, and there were a lot of them.”
There certainly were “a lot of them” on the way, and at speed. Bavv-Mellen and Vr-Melloc still hadn’t managed to get through to Drake or Mendez, leaving them completely in the dark on the whereabouts of the Main striking force of Task Force Remagen. The question of whether or not the Klingons would order Starfleet to leave or fire first was answered quickly when a shuttle from the USS Vela Gap was destroyed by a Klingon scout ship. There would be no negotiation here. It would not have been beyond the two Captains to cut their losses and pull out, but it would have meant leaving Kyber Pass – the vital part of the whole plan – behind. While a Sviagod could be moved around after construction, to a certain extent, there was no way to move it beyond about ¼ impulse speed. Abandoning it, apparently, was not an option either Captain considered. With 14 vessels to the Klingons 20-odd, it seemed like approachable odds. The decision was made to stay and fight.
As the Chief Engineer, his job now was to keep the ship’s systems – defensive and otherwise – functioning for as long as possible. It was not an easy task – especially with the Capella class, where much of the control systems still functioned on the same principles as the Archer-Type warp 5 engine. “You had to watch everything – everyone did. There was no way for one person to monitor everything – I had seven personnel just for system monitoring. It was better than the alternative, though.” Ch’O’Leary was right – as much as the Marvick drivers were “bloody fiddly”, as Montgomery Scott famously put it, they were incredibly resistant to cascade power failures and easy to repair if things did go wrong. Either way, the Malcolm Reed wasn’t able to take its chances. Like all the other ships, it was no match in a one-on-one engagement with the Imperial Battlecruisers, but if the lighter vessels could combine their firepower, they might be able to blunt the Klingon assault for long enough that the heavier vessels under Drake could come to their aid.
The first Ch’O’Leary knew of the Marco Polo’s sighting was when the Red Alert sirens started blaring. “Captain Cartwright’s voice came over the tannoy, telling us the enemy had been sighted on the edge of the system. We expected more, but that was it. I won’t lie, it didn’t make any of us more comfortable.” The Malcolm Reed’s engineering crew did the best they could to prepare for action, however, battening down the hatches, preparing override and bypass circuits, and securing and shutting down non-essential systems, but after that had been done, they had to simply sit and wait. “We just wished we knew more about the Klingon force, except that they were coming, and there were a lot of them.”
There certainly were “a lot of them” on the way, and at speed. Bavv-Mellen and Vr-Melloc still hadn’t managed to get through to Drake or Mendez, leaving them completely in the dark on the whereabouts of the Main striking force of Task Force Remagen. The question of whether or not the Klingons would order Starfleet to leave or fire first was answered quickly when a shuttle from the USS Vela Gap was destroyed by a Klingon scout ship. There would be no negotiation here. It would not have been beyond the two Captains to cut their losses and pull out, but it would have meant leaving Kyber Pass – the vital part of the whole plan – behind. While a Sviagod could be moved around after construction, to a certain extent, there was no way to move it beyond about ¼ impulse speed. Abandoning it, apparently, was not an option either Captain considered. With 14 vessels to the Klingons 20-odd, it seemed like approachable odds. The decision was made to stay and fight.
By mid-2261 Mardikian II was one of eight long-term deployments authorised by the Federation Security Council. Stretched thin and fighting a more capable opponent, the professional army of the Federation – both the Infantry of the CAF and the MACOs – struggled to hold their own against the Imperial Army. “Mardikian II was bloody murder,” Patrick Ch’O’Leary remembered. “The was no way to avoid death there.” Ch’O’Leary spent two weeks on Mardikian II in August 2261, leading an engineering team from the Malcolm Reed alongside the UFP Marines and newly arrived elements of the 2nd Battalion, Fusilier Regiment (Earth) . Most of their mission had involved helping to build roads, irrigation ditches and power relays along the route to the front, but 8 days into their tour Ch’O’Leary was asked to lead a group up to the front and assist in the construction of a Starfleet Mobile Auxiliary Support Hospital (SMASH) unit.
“The MACOs were riding shotgun in all our vehicles, leaning out the doors with their Phaser carbines at the hip, while their officer grinned at me from behind the controls, ignoring the whip-crash of chemical shells and the bark of distant disruptor fire.” The convoy was hit on several occasions, killing several soldiers and some Starfleet engineers. “The Fusilier officer didn’t seem too hurt by loss. He shook his head with frustration and apologised for the delay as our personnel heaved the burning skimmer and its dead crew off the winding road. There was part of him that seemed excited to get back up to the front, and back into the action. His whole platoon seemed excited to get to grips with the enemy and get back for all the combat they missed in the Klingon war. They didn’t know what they’d escaped.”
The SMASH unit was located around 4 miles from the line of contact, but it was by no means a safe zone. Ch’O’Leary’s personnel and the CAF engineers worked through shell fire, disruptor barrages and sniper fire to build the hospital while the fusiliers tried to push the Klingon infantry off the overlooking hills. “The noise of battle was constant – as constant as the scream-smash of mortars and pop-guns that pounded our corner of hell all day and all night.” There was an expectation that the Klingon ground troops on Mardikian II would fight as they had during the Klingon War, with mass wave attacks, brutal hand-to-hand combat and the gratuitous use of explosives in close quarters. This was not how they fought now. Even with the poor training of the new Imperial Army, the emphasis on defensive firepower (after mass assaults failed) was telling, especially to the “poor bloody infantry” of the Federation Ground Forces as they tried to scale the hilltops of Mardikian II.
“The Klingon ground pounders melted into the hills, invisible until the moment a fusillade of disruptors screeched out of the undergrowth, or a troop of warriors thundered down a gully, firing from the hip. It was utterly terrifying. You’d be standing behind a rock, safe from the enemy, and then a green bolt of energy would clip the ground next to you. Or maybe, another day, you’d be moving equipment across the compound and your every move would be followed by mortar shots with pinpoint accuracy. We learned very quickly to move like the fusiliers, in short bounds, doubled over, borrowed helmets clutched to our heads.”
The Fusilier Lieutenant was amused by the sight of O’Leary and the officers ducking along with their men. “He was mad. Completely mad. I watched him lead his platoon up the hill into a hail of green disruptor fire, standing upright while everyone else ducked and weaved through the scrubland. He didn’t seem to mind the danger.” The bravery of the fusiliers was enough to clear the hilltops around the SMASH unit, and their lieutenant returned in triumph, grinning from ear to ear. “He waved at me from a small hilltop. ‘Good show!’ he hollered, waving his carbine like a swagger stick. The boy went to add something more but was cut off by a shill, high-pitched shriek. His body toppled to the floor, lifeless, his flesh hissing from where the disruptor bolt had hit him square in the chest.”
“They never found that sniper. Fusilier sergeant reckoned they vaporised themselves to escape capture. That boy cost 68,000 Federation credits to educate as an officer. He’d cost around 150,000 to equip from head to toe. It had probably cost Starfleet nearly 350,000 more on top of that to ship him out here to the back of beyond. He’d been killed by a disruptor you can buy in a Regulan flea market for five strips of latinum. That kid, who had the finest tactical training you can find in the Alpha Quadrant, had been cut down with the ease of a hunter shooting a deer. What a waste.”
“The MACOs were riding shotgun in all our vehicles, leaning out the doors with their Phaser carbines at the hip, while their officer grinned at me from behind the controls, ignoring the whip-crash of chemical shells and the bark of distant disruptor fire.” The convoy was hit on several occasions, killing several soldiers and some Starfleet engineers. “The Fusilier officer didn’t seem too hurt by loss. He shook his head with frustration and apologised for the delay as our personnel heaved the burning skimmer and its dead crew off the winding road. There was part of him that seemed excited to get back up to the front, and back into the action. His whole platoon seemed excited to get to grips with the enemy and get back for all the combat they missed in the Klingon war. They didn’t know what they’d escaped.”
The SMASH unit was located around 4 miles from the line of contact, but it was by no means a safe zone. Ch’O’Leary’s personnel and the CAF engineers worked through shell fire, disruptor barrages and sniper fire to build the hospital while the fusiliers tried to push the Klingon infantry off the overlooking hills. “The noise of battle was constant – as constant as the scream-smash of mortars and pop-guns that pounded our corner of hell all day and all night.” There was an expectation that the Klingon ground troops on Mardikian II would fight as they had during the Klingon War, with mass wave attacks, brutal hand-to-hand combat and the gratuitous use of explosives in close quarters. This was not how they fought now. Even with the poor training of the new Imperial Army, the emphasis on defensive firepower (after mass assaults failed) was telling, especially to the “poor bloody infantry” of the Federation Ground Forces as they tried to scale the hilltops of Mardikian II.
“The Klingon ground pounders melted into the hills, invisible until the moment a fusillade of disruptors screeched out of the undergrowth, or a troop of warriors thundered down a gully, firing from the hip. It was utterly terrifying. You’d be standing behind a rock, safe from the enemy, and then a green bolt of energy would clip the ground next to you. Or maybe, another day, you’d be moving equipment across the compound and your every move would be followed by mortar shots with pinpoint accuracy. We learned very quickly to move like the fusiliers, in short bounds, doubled over, borrowed helmets clutched to our heads.”
The Fusilier Lieutenant was amused by the sight of O’Leary and the officers ducking along with their men. “He was mad. Completely mad. I watched him lead his platoon up the hill into a hail of green disruptor fire, standing upright while everyone else ducked and weaved through the scrubland. He didn’t seem to mind the danger.” The bravery of the fusiliers was enough to clear the hilltops around the SMASH unit, and their lieutenant returned in triumph, grinning from ear to ear. “He waved at me from a small hilltop. ‘Good show!’ he hollered, waving his carbine like a swagger stick. The boy went to add something more but was cut off by a shill, high-pitched shriek. His body toppled to the floor, lifeless, his flesh hissing from where the disruptor bolt had hit him square in the chest.”
“They never found that sniper. Fusilier sergeant reckoned they vaporised themselves to escape capture. That boy cost 68,000 Federation credits to educate as an officer. He’d cost around 150,000 to equip from head to toe. It had probably cost Starfleet nearly 350,000 more on top of that to ship him out here to the back of beyond. He’d been killed by a disruptor you can buy in a Regulan flea market for five strips of latinum. That kid, who had the finest tactical training you can find in the Alpha Quadrant, had been cut down with the ease of a hunter shooting a deer. What a waste.”