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Elisha Jerone Irvin was born to career Starfleet
officers Barbara and Rick Irvin. Rick was an Engineering
Researcher assigned to the Corps of Engineers. Barbara
Irvin, then Lt JG, was the Mission Specialist of the
Federation border patrol vessel, USS Belknap-B. Barbara
had taken a 1 year leave of absence in order to spend
some time with Eli and Rick. After her one year
sabbatical, she returned to duty on board the Belknap.
They heard from her occasionally, but not all that
often. She managed to make contact on holidays,
birthdays, other important days as well, but she seldom
got back to earth. Things remained this way for many
years.
Eli grew up with his father mainly. They lived in
Americus for many years while Rick was stationed at the
Starfleet Propulsion Research Laboratory in Albany, just
a short distance from their home. Through out the years,
Eli spent most of his time with his grandparents, Irene
& Leonard Fletcher, and sister Leslie. Irene was the
owner of a successful restaurant in Americus, and
Leonard a retired starship exec who served in the
Federation/Klingon war. Leslie would later grow up to
become a successful family physician living and running
a practice in Atlanta.
As Eli advanced in his years, began to spend more and
more time with his father. He watched him do work at
home on the weekends and at night. Rick took pride in
the work he did and was very passionate about the
Federation one day being able to reach much further than
they could today with conventional warp drive. This same
passion and work-pride rubbed off on Eli at a very young
age. It was something that would follow him for the rest
of his life.
At the age of 16, Eli’s mother, Barbara, retired from
Starfleet shortly after the Belknap-B was
decommissioned. She had obtained the rank of Lt.
Commander and was the Executive Officer at the time of
her retirement. When she returned to Americus, she
wanted very much to be a part of Eli’s life from here on
out. He took it as a feeble attempt to make up for the
years that she was not there. Eli took her over
protective, totalitarian attitude in stride. He became
rebellious where his mother was concerned; spending more
and more time away from home at the times he was not in
school or spending time with his father at the research
lab. It was this same year that Leslie completed medical
school as an M.D.
In June of that same year, Rick was on board the
engineering research vessel, USS Emerson. They were
testing a new version of trans-warp drive that had been
on the drawing board for many years. There was a
critical malfunction of the power conversion units in
the warp nacelles, sending a massive surge back through
the warp drive system in much the same fashion as an
anti-mater cascade. The dilithium crystal in the core
was fractured and knocked out of the articulation frame,
an uncontrolled reaction occurred, the core breached,
and the ship was destroyed with all hands in orbit of
Jupiter. An investigation cleared anyone person of any
wrong doing and ruled the incident an accident resulting
from an unforeseen design flaw. The project was
abandoned shortly there after. This was little to no
consolation for Eli who lost the only role model and
idol that he had ever had. He was devastated. He
retreated in a depression that often manifested itself
in his practice of humor, sometimes which others did not
find humorous. Eli’s sister, Leslie along with his
mother tried to help him through this time in his life.
Eli some how mottled through letting his mother know
that he help was not needed or wanted. Eli then buried
himself in school work and bonded closer with his
sister. He pressed to the end of his high school years
so that he could get off to the Academy, and away from
his mother.
At the age of 18, 3 weeks before graduating from
Americus High School, Eli applied to Starfleet Academy.
He passed the entrance exam with flying colors. After
getting the results of the exam one week after the high
school commencement, he prepared for his departure. He
made his goodbyes to the few friends that he had, his
sister, and especially his grandparents. Before he left,
Barbara managed to get a moment of Eli’s time. She sat
down with him and talked for 30 minutes. After their
conversation, Eli and his mother managed to put to rest
many years of resentment and agreed to start a new. |
Crew 
