Lieutenant JG Jorel Merrock
Name Jorel Merrock
Position Chief Strategic Operations Officer
Rank Lieutenant JG
Character Information
| Gender | Male | |
| Species | El-Aurian/Romulan | |
| Age | 98 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 6'4" | |
| Weight | 200 lbs | |
| Hair Color | Black | |
| Eye Color | Hazel | |
| Physical Description | Jorel is above average height standing at six feet and four inches and weighing in at one hundred two hundred pounds. Typical of El-Aurian physiology, despite being close to one hundred years old, he is impeccable health with his outward appearance being that of a man who is only in his late twenties. Beyond natural physiological longevity, Jorel, makes it a point to remain physically fit and maintains a strict diet, trying to avoid replicated food or synthale. He prefers a natural diet, real alcohol, and has a soft spot for Yridian cigars. He keeps his head shaved bald and seldom grows it out, to do so would’ve only highlighted his Romulan heritage, over the years he has grown accustomed to the look. |
Family
| Spouse | Captain T'Maris | |
| Children | Son: Jaris Merrock (42) Daughter: Asha Ai’lara Merrock (35) |
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| Father | Senator Gaius Salonius Merrok (Deceased) | |
| Mother | Asha Mahan (128) | |
| Brother(s) | Colonel Maricus Merrok (106) | |
| Sister(s) | Dezrai Merrok (103) Ai’lara Merrok (100 | |
| Other Family |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Jorel is a complex individual; in one instance, he can be as logical as any Vulcan, in the next he can be as manipulative and aggressive as any Romulan, or display the same patience and understanding that has become synonymous with his mother’s people. Born and raised a Romulan his upbringing was very much in line with that of most Romulan children, albeit he has long since turned his back on his home-world. He is quite capable of the duplicity that has become associated with his people, however, like many Romulans he follows a strict code of honor and is loyal to his peers and loved ones. He is not particularly loquacious by nature and can seem cold on first contact but once he gets to know you he can be quite affectionate and is always happy to listen and offer guidance. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | + Experienced Pilot & Navigator + Security Investigations Specialist + Tactical & Strategic Operations Specialist + Intelligence Specialist - Limited technical skills - Can be secretive & manipulative - Can be short-tempered - Limited scientific knowledge |
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| Ambitions | To be one of the few members of the SFMC to command a starship. | |
| Hobbies & Interests | As much as he would prefer to deny his Romulan heritage so many of his hobbies are activities and interests he developed while living on Bu’Uli Tev III and Romulus. He still plays Romulan strategy games like latrunculo (Romulan chess) and masaharis, when alone in his quarters he likes to recite the poems and songs he learned as a child. Additionally, he maintains a strict physical and mental workout regime to keep his mind and body sharp, in keeping with his Romulan upbringing. He despises synthale and replicated food and when he can he likes to indulge in Romulan ale, Yridian cigars, and gambling games such as dom-jot, tongo, and dabo. As part of his workout routine he likes to use the holodeck to recreate the hunting grounds from his youth. |
| Personal History | Jorel Merrok was born in New Ra’tleihfi on Bu’Uli Tev III, a colony world near the Romulan Neutral Zone, on the 12th day of et’Khior in the year 2296. He was the fourth child born to the union between Colonel Gaius Merrok and El-Aurian refugee, Asha Mahan, their union was in keeping with the Romulan tradition of taking prisoners for wives. Although what started out as a marriage of obligation became far more complicated as Asha and Gaius would remain loyal to one another through the course of their thirty-year marriage. Bu’Uli Tev was an agricultural planet lush with exotic plant and wildlife, far different from the Romulan homeworld. Colonel Gaius Merrok was a member of the Tal Shiar and served as the Chief Political Officer of the colony as well as administrator of the planets most lucrative industrial farm. Asha was a strong-willed woman and one of the few people who would speak against Gaius, albeit only in the privacy of their own home. The House Merrok was an honored one throughout the Empire and as such Jorel and his siblings were offered a great deal of respect even if they were only half-Romulan. Through his tutors he learned a great deal about the cultural difference between the Romulans and their rivals, though he gained an appreciation for the Klingons, believing their concept of honor to be better than the Romulans. On Jorel’s sixteenth birthday Gaius arranged for Jorel to visit the Citadel Var’Theldun, headquarters of the Tal Shiar so that he could learn what might happened to him if he continued to question the authority of the Empire. Gaius had hoped this trip would remind Jorel to remain on the right path however, the trip had the opposite effect. Upon seeing so many beaten and dejected Romulans Jorel instantly became sick, disgusted at the thought that his father could take so much pride in this sort of work and had expected for Jorel to do the same. There were few words exchanged in the Merrok home for weeks before Gaius arranged for Asha and Jorel to visit Vulcan, hoping the trip would ease tensions with his son, his mother joined him on the trip. The year was 2311 and tensions between the major powers were as high as ever, while visiting the ancient temples of Vulcan with his mother when the Tomed Incident occurred which inevitably led to the Treaty of Algeron. In the months between the incident and the signing of the treaty Asha hastily requested asylum in Federation space, despite Gaius’s demand they return and threat to send the Tal-Shiar after them, she persisted and used his threats to strengthen her case. One month following the signing of the Treaty of Algeron she and Jorel were granted asylum in exchange for all information they could share about the Romulans. They briefly resided on Vulcan in an apartment in the capital city of ShiKhar until 2312 when Asha received a sponsorship to enter Starfleet Academy, at which point they relocated to another apartment located along the Grand Avenue side of Lake Merritt in Oakland, California. Earth was significantly different from both Romulus and Bu’Uli Tev III, initially he was suspicious of the freedom they had been granted, having grown so used to having to look over his shoulder he spent their first year living in paranoia, believing Gaius would come for them at night. However, now that she was a Starfleet cadet his mother assured him that nothing would ever happen to them. He completed his undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley in 2317, double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, with a minor in Journalism. In the summer of 2317 he was to begin his Summer Internship requirement, earning a spot with the Federation News Service, covering Starfleet. He joined mother aboard the U.S.S. Saratoga, a Miranda-refit class vessel, under the command of Captain Margaret Alexander. It was the first time in many years they were together for more than a few days, their reunion was a joyful one, seeing his mother in a Starfleet uniform filled him with pride, inspiring the first article he wrote was about the day-in-a-life of a junior officer. With permission from the ship’s Captain Jorel could report on all non-classified missions that took place during the two-months he was on-board. His mother served as the Captain’s yeoman and junior navigation/helm officer, allowing him to develop a friendship with Captain Alexander. After roughly a year aboard the Saratoga he received a permanent assignment with the Federation News Services, serving as a desk editor and columnist for about four years before we was assigned to the USS Grissom, an Excelsior class vessel as the civilian media relations officer. The Grissom was newly built and assigned a mission of exploration deep in the Beta Quadrant, although he was only twenty-six and a civilian, Jorel would become an integral part of the Grissom’s crew. His main responsibility was to report the work being performed aboard the Grissom, establish connections with the members of news outlets on planets visited by the Grissom, and attending major conferences. His Romulan heritage was not widely known, only the senior staff were aware of his background, and were initially hesitant to trust Jorel, while Jorel was used to it he worked diligently to gain their trust and would eventually become a friend to almost every member of the crew. Long range communication being what it was gave Jorel an opportunity to develop a weekly newsletter that could be sent to the families of the Grissom’s crew. Jorel would serve aboard the Grissom for three years before he was transferred to the Europa, an aging Constellation class vessel, conducting a patrol assignment along the Cardassian/Federation border. Jorel would have prefered to remain on the Grissom longer but the Federation News Service felt otherwise. However, he used this as opportunity to write a special piece on the vessels that made up the backbone of Starfleet, entitled From the Frontlines, the piece would catapult him to moderate fame for its honest portrayal of both enlisted and commissioned officers, but also on Starfleet’s tasks outside of the realm of space exploration. He serve on the Europa for roughly two and a half years before he was asked to return to Earth and serve as a news presenter for the Federation News Services nightly report. Handsome and well spoken, Jorel became something of a fixture in the two years he anchored the nightly news. In 2330 he was asked to become the Host of Illuminating the City of Light, a presentation by of the Federation News Service regarding the activities of the Federation government in Paris. Although he appreciated the notoriety and the bonds he created with many of the Federation’s most important figures in 2332 Jorel left the news program to become a contributing editor with the FNS. Although his offices were located in San Francisco, he maintained his apartment in the Parisian suburb, Saint-Denis, his permanent residence to this day. As a contributing editor he restarted his From the Front Lines articles, in 2335 he was promoted to a managing editor, a role he would maintain for about four and half years, in 2340 he was asked to aide the Federation Department of the Exterior by become a media consultant. As an El-Aurian, he was naturally suited for his career as a journalist and as a media consultant for the Dept. of the Exterior Jorel was offered an opportunity to see more of the galaxy, and work closely with some of the Federations brightest minds. He was initially hired to assist the department in navigating several controversies, notably a corruption charge against several Federation Ambassadors, but he would become a valued member of the Communications staff. After about two years as a media consultant he was hired full-time by the Dept. of the Exterior in 2342, becoming the Deputy Press Secretary, Jorel would be regarded for his quick wit and jovial banter with his fellow journalists. Although he was a civilian Jorel was on a first-name basis with many of Starfleet’s top brass and through the years he cultivated a tight network of confidants, many of whom would one day owe him a favor. Despite the fact he was a reporter he knew when to keep a secret and when not to, and on occasion he was known to operate in the grey areas of ethics and morality, he was a deep believer in searching for the truth even unto its innermost parts. In 2350 however, things took a drastic turn - with tensions rising between the Federation and the Cardassian Union, Jorel had received numerous reports that the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor had worsened significantly and became disillusioned by the Federations lack of support for the Bajoran, in early 2350 he and several of his peers resigned from their posts in protest of the Federation complicit attitude toward the mistreatment of Bajorans. In early 2355 he arrived as the Starfleet Marine Corps Recruitment Depot in San Diego, upon completing sixteen week long boot camp he was then moved to the School of Infantry located in the Falklands and subsequently completed the training to become an infantryman. Immediately after graduation he was assigned Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, the USS Iwo Jima was a New Orleans class vessel assigned to the frontlines of the war. As an enlisted officer he served as the Basic Intelligence Marine, his duties included the collection, recording, analysis, processing, and dissemination of information/ intelligence. He saw heavy combat during this period and helped defend several colony worlds along the Federation/Cardassian border, for his efforts his CO, Major Rivesh Singh, arranged for him to participate in the Basic Reconnaissance Course out of Camp Pendleton. Upon completion of the program in 2357 he was assigned to the USS Bataan, another New Orleans Class vessel posted to the Federation/Cardassian border. He would serve as a Reconnaissance Marine for the Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group until 2359, when the war seemed to slow down he was reassigned to a Special Reaction Team stationed on Marva IV, their main objective was to assist Starfleet Security in pushing back Cardassian encroachment. Jorel had come a long way from his previous life as a civilian and was all the more grateful to the Federation and Starfleet, shortly after his release from the Cardassians a few years prior someone had let it slip that he was actually half-Romulan. Despite his background both entities did not bar his enlistment in the Starfleet Marine Corps. Initially he was motivated by revenge, he wanted nothing more than try and find the Cardassians who interrogated him, but in time he became an ardent believer in the Marine Corps credo: to defend and the protect the Federation, to the last Marine. His time on Marva IV reminded him what he was fighting for, the colony had been ravaged by the war but its inhabitants refused to leave and were dedicated to rebuilding, protecting them was exactly what the corps stood for. In 2361 he was promoted in rank to Staff Sergeant and made the SFMC Military Police Investigator on Marva IV, he worked in tandem with Lt. Cmdr Ghregor, a Tellarite and the colony’s Chief of Security. Life on Marva IV had become peaceful and in time the marine presence on the colony was no longer needed so in 2364 although the Corps formally pulled out of the colony, Jorel and several other marines remained detached to the Marva IV as Intelligence Specialists assigned to Starfleet Intelligence. He remained a marine but answered to only to his superiors at Starfleet Intelligence, their primary responsibility was to monitor Cardassian activity in the area that would eventually become the Demilitarized Zone. A family man now with two children, Jorel accepted a promotion to 1st Sergeant and became a Drill Instructor on Earth at the San Diego Marine Recruit Depot. With the outbreak of war with the Dominion and Cardassian allies in 2373 Jorel returned to the field, this time joining the Marine Raider Regiment stationed at Camp Pendleton, with the rank of Master Gunnery Sergeant to his billet he took on the role of Infantry Unit Leader. Jorel saw heavy combat during the Dominion War, his unit fought alongside Klingon shock troops and Starfleet officers and gained a reputation for their efficiency. Their commander, Colonel Eros Frost, placed his complete trust in Jorel and together they ran a tight ship had maintained a low casualty rate, with Jorel’s preference for intelligence operations and reconnaissance they never order their unit into a field of operations that they had not scouted first. In early 2375 he was given a field promotion to Operations Chief at the rank of Sergeant Major, helping to coordinate efforts between the Klingons and now Reman ground forces. At the end of the war his unit was stationed to Cardassia to assist in stabilising the planet and providing extra security at the Federation embassy, during this time his promotion became permanent and he would serve as the Operations Chief until 2380. After twenty-five years as a non-commissioned officer Jorel was approached with the opportunity to enroll in the Basic School and become a commissioned officer. Whilst completing his studies at Camp Lejeune he was offered an instructor position at Starfleet Academy where his taught weapons and tactics. After completing the course in nine months Jorel earned his commission but continued to teach at Starfleet Academy, gaining a reputation for being jovial in his approach but a crude and effective tactician - often encouraging cadets to think outside the conventions of normal warfare because their opponents most certainly would. In 2385 he became a lecturer for intelligence tracked cadets and taught Intelligence Tactics, at the same time he was enrolled in Advanced Tactical Training so that he could be certified for bridge duty aboard a starship. Although it was rare, Jorel aspired to be one of the few marines to command a starship, even if it was in a limited capacity. In 2387 however, things took a dramatic turn following the Hobus supernova and the destruction of Romulus and Remus. At the behest of his superiors after completing his advanced tactical training courses his people nearly eighty-five years ago. As a special liaison he served on Romulan Star Outpost24 located in the he was made a Special Liaison for Starfleet Command and the fractured Romulan Imperial Navy. As a Romulan he impacted by the destruction of his former homeworld, despite having turned his back on Alpha Quadrant on the Empire’s side of the Neutral Zone with the Federation. His main responsibility to was to help build trust between Starfleet and Imperial Naval officers, coordinate humanitarian efforts on the Outpost, and assist the ranking Starfleet officers in their diplomatic outreach to Romulan colony worlds. He fulfilled the responsibilities of this role with noteworthy efficiency, informally, his reputation amongst enlisted officers and civilians alike helped to mitigate any racial tensions between Starfleet personnel and their Romulan counterparts, he was also particularly adept at quelling disgruntled Remans who felt they were being overlooked for aide. He held this post until 2390 after the completion of construction of Starbase Haven on the Federation side of the neutral zone, built to alleviate fears of a Federation occupation of Romulan space. On Starbase Haven Jorel served as the Strategic Operations Officer and Chief of Security, taking on the coordination of Starfleet activity within the sector, intelligence briefings, and as the fleet liaison officer for the Romulans on top of establishing a strong security presence on the station. He would hold the post of Chief of Security until 2393, once the station was fully operational, his primary responsibility was as the Chief of Strategic Operations aboard Starbase Haven This change shifted his focus to intelligence, diplomacy, logistics, and informally advising the station’s commander, Rear-Admiral T’Val, with whom he shared a close friendship. In early 2395 he received word that his father had passed away on Bu’Uli Tev III, the world Jorel was born on, Jorel took an extended leave from Starfleet and the Marine Corps while he saw to his family affairs. He is in the process of ending his leave and returning to Starfleet, ideally this time he would server aboard a starship. |
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| Service Record | === Service Record === 2318 – 2322: Desk Editor/Columnist: Starfleet & Political Section 2322 – 2325: U.S.S. Grissom, Media Relations Officer 2325 – 2328: U.S.S. Europa, Media Relations Officer 2328 – 2330: News Presenter, Nightly News Edition, FNS 2330 – 2332: Host of Illuminating the City of Light, FNS 2332 – 2335: Contributing Editor, Starfleet Section, FNS 2335 – 2340: Managing Editor for the Federation News Service 2340 – 2342: Media Consultant, Federation Department of the Exterior 2342 – 2350: Deputy Press Secretary, Federation Department of the Exterior 2355 – 2355: Starfleet Marine Corps Recruitment Depot, San Diego (Pvt) 2355 – 2356: School of Infantry, Starfleet Marine Corps - Falklands (Pfc) 2356 – 2357: Intelligence Marine, Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, USS Iwo Jima (Pfc/LCpl) 2357 – 2357: Basic Reconnaissance Course, SFMC West, Camp Pendleton (LCpl/Cpl) 2357 – 2359: Reconnaissance Marine, Bataan Expeditionary Strike Group, USS Bataan (Cpl/Sgt) 2359 – 2361: SFMC Special Reaction Team, Marva IV (Sgt/SSgt) 2361 – 2364: SFMC Military Police Investigator, Marva IV (SSgt) 2364 – 2369: Intelligence Specialist, Detached to Starfleet Intelligence (GySgt) 2369 – 2371: Drill Instructor, Starfleet Marine Recruit Depot, San Diego (MSgt) 2371 – 2373: Senior Drill Instructor, Starfleet Marine Recruit Depot, San Diego (1st Sgt) 2373 – 2375: Infantry Unit Leader, Marine Raider Regiment, SFMC Special Operations (MGySgt) 2375 – 2377: Operations Chief, Marine Raider Regiment, SFMC Special Operations (SgtMaj) 2377 – 2380: Operations Chief, Marine Raider Regiment, SFMC Special Operations - Cardassia (SgtMaj) 2380 – 2385: Weapons and Tactics Instructor, Starfleet Academy 2385 – 2387: Intelligence Tactics Instructor, Starfleet Academy 2385 – 2387: Advanced Tactical Training Program, Starfleet Command School 2387 – 2390: Special Liaison Officer, Starfleet Command, Romulan Star Outpost 24 2390 – 2393: Strategic Operations/Chief Security Officer, Starbase Haven 2393 – 2395: Chief Strategic Operations Officer, Starbase Haven 2395 – Present: |