Lieutenant Jackson Raster

Character Information

Gender		Male
Species		Human (esper)
Age		129

Physical Appearance

Height		6' 8"
Weight		250 lbs.
Hair Color		Flame red
Eye Color		Emerald green (most of the time)
Physical Description		A tall, sturdy man, of Earther descent, his fellow has bright green eyes with a merry twinkle, and flame-red hair. A full beard adorns his Gaelic features, and his height, which might be considered towering at 6'8", only underscores his friendly, protective nature.

Family

Spouse		NA
Children		NA
Father		Deceased
Mother		Deceased
Brother(s)		NA
Sister(s)		NA
Other Family		NA

Personality & Traits

General Overview		With a Scottish accent so thick it dents spacetime, and an instinctive understanding of machines, this engineer is the go-to guy for all things technical. He's developed a reputation for making the insane seem mundane. If there are published limitations on a piece of equipment, he's developed ways around them. He keeps multiple industrial replication units in his workshop, and his people can frequently be seen dumping bins of wrecked, smoked, melted, crushed, tortured, twisted, blasted, crunched, extruded, sparking, vibrating, phasing pieces of equipment into the recovery slots on them- results of experiments successful and otherwise. Some have commented that they believe he might be happier in a laboratory, somewhere, but he often seems drawn to places and situations that yield opportunities for engineering discoveries that don't happen anywhere except out in the field.
Strengths & Weaknesses		A natural tinkerer, this man has a knack for understanding the spacetime continuum, and the things which affect it. This can sometimes be a painful distraction, as Starfleet is frequently in the middle of events that twist up local reality. His dual strength and weakness is that he's doggedly-attached to any problem he takes on to solve.
Ambitions		His main ambition is to make sure his ship is at the tip-top of the heap, technologically. Personally, he doesn't crave command, or fame, or wealth- just the opportunity to improve his understanding. He's been approached by various organizations, both public, private, and governmental- he rarely takes the time to speak with them- he's too busy improving equipment or making it do unnatural things to get tied up with secret agencies and decoder rings. He's got a serious fetish for vintage equipment, as well.
Hobbies & Interests		Engineering is his bread and butter- and spacetime is his bitch. Languages known: Federation Standard, Gaelic, Binary

Personal History		IC Raster's file is marked as RESTRICTED ACCESS ONLY by order of Starfleet Corps of Engineers CO. OOC BIO Jackson Turnbull Raster was an only child, but this suited his busy parents just fine. Raster grew up on Earth, in a city called Seattle, in the mid-2200s. His parents were both Scottish nationals, and longtime Fleet personnel. Father was a research engineer with ties to the Corps of Engineers. Mother was in the astro-sciences division, and was working to develop new insights into quantum reality studies. Young JT had some of the best mentors on the planet to study things mechanical and technical, since his parents commuted back and forth between their home in Seattle, and Fleet Headquarters, in San Francisco. Genetics bred true, and produced a sharp and open mind, in him. JT had some quirks, as the smart ones often do- he was an RPGer to the molten core, and was rather in love with older technologies. His father often brought home trinkets that were curiosities to not only him, but to the rest of Fleet, for he worked in the Artifact Research Division- specifically, the Reverse Engineering group. There were times when, while he was examining some mute, silent item, dug up on some far-away world, that JT would make some strange little comment, and the purpose of the module would become clear. This made JT someone that Fleet was eager to recruit right out of high school, and his parents certainly had no reluctance in allowing it. All through his teen years, JT tinkered- he even had several patents in the works by the time he finished school. JT had just settled in to his midshipman dorm room at SF Academy, and attended his first day of classes, when a message came to the last block instructor. JT's parents, it was reported, had been killed in a freak shuttle accident while commuting between cities that day. The news shattered JT's world- he had been the last person to look over the family shuttle, and had found nothing wrong with any of the flight systems. Fleet was at a loss to explain what exactly had brought the flier down, and so violently that almost nothing had remained at the crash site other than some duranium shards and yridium collar assemblies, flung far from the wreckage. Though Fleet offered to release the boy from his contract, he chose instead to pour himself into the work of becoming an engineer who could anticipate the kinds of events that killed his parents, and prevent them. While some others might have been described as a walking stack of books, JT's natural talents made him more like a walking workshop. Never could he be found without a full toolset and some new project, some prototype, some ancient piece of technology that could not withstand the hammering of his powerful intellect for long, and would eventually give up its secrets to him. He also buried himself in his mother's research, becoming fascinated with her work on quantum interactions and relations. Being of direct Scottish descent, he chose to honor his parents by immersing himself in his ancestral culture, as well. The older he got, the more thick his brogue became, and the more in tune with the technological he seemed. His gaming activities continued, and he eventually was forbidden from using any form of electronic device to roll random numbers- they seemed to generate the ones he needed, even if he'd never touched the device, before. Physical dice, however, seemed to follow the rules, well enough. He eventually graduated as a Fleet Engineering cadet with full honors, and was assigned a berth on one of the many fleet ships which was in need of fresh crew. Raster's initial shakedown cruise was aboard the flagship, as an Engineering crewman. His roleplaying habits followed him, there, and having been assigned a late shift, he often had the freedom to do extracurricular activites. A Saturday-night DnD game soon developed, and Raster's way of doing his duty while gaming was to rig a remote monitor through his tricorder unit. It was a fairly-complex assembly, with both monitoring and remote control capabilities, and the base station drew a bit of power. He connected to a nearby wall conduit for this. What Raster didn't know was, on the other side of that wall, was the Chief Engineer's prized distillation apparatus. The Chief had been brewing this batch especially for a celebration among the senior crew- it was his pride and joy. The additional power draw reduced the output of the heating unit on the still. When Mister Scott checked the batch the next morning, he was beyond incensed. He had to inform the Captain of the reason why Ship's Finest wouldn't be ready for the party. What Raster did was technically a dereliction of duty by not being at his post, even though he was literally within line of sight of it. The Captain and the Chief hatched a plan together, and hauled Mister Raster in. Once chewed and properly spit-out, he was informed that his next duty post would be ready earlier than expected. He'd been assigned to a new ship. To his surprise, Jackson had a rank promotion, and had been assigned to the U. S. S. Banana Republic, a tiny tugboat under the command of Piper. It was a bit of a motley crew, but eventually, they solidified into a solid group. Raster had his hands full with the refit of the BR, as she was nearly destroyed by an engagement against an experimental Dreadnought, stolen by renegade Fleet factions. He worked through the redesign with relish, though, enjoying the thought to resurrecting a ship with such a fine history. Once they sailed, as noted previously, they drew much experience in a short time, developing friendships and trust. They eventually deployed to the Typhon Expanse region for research. It was on a standard survey mission in 2278, that Raster and his CO, Piper, were taking samples and readings on a near-class-M planetoid. There had been some odd readings in the sector, but nothing well-defined. As they worked, the sky darkened, and bolts of bright-orange lightning began dropping from the oddly-swirling clouds. A frantic comm from the ship indicated a massive ioninc stormfront moving into the system at literally warp speed- there was very little time to react. The transporter became useless almost as fast as the CO gave the order to beam them aboard- the storm was interfering with the targeting scanners. Raster had bee monitoring the orbital situation, and immediately had the tiny ship's only set of pattern enhancers beamed-down. As he went about the task of setting them up, he realized that with the rising levels of interference, they could only provide enough enhancement for a single person. Asking Piper to pick up a tool he'd left on the middle of the triangle, he stepped outside, and called the ship for an emergemcy beamout. As the sparks flew from the melting enhancers and curses flew from his CO as she dematerialized, he called the ship to confirm her arrival. He was greeted with more choice words, and an order to stand by for another beamout. As the beam took hold and he began to ghost, time seemed to slow, and he could track the approach of a brilliant orange bolt, heading directly for him. Just as he could see through his fingers, it struck, and the connection to the ship was severed. They say the Typhon Expanse is haunted. Perhaps it is. But it's also an area of very weak temporal and spatial fabric. Raster's disconnection with realspace during the transport process, combined with the additional energies of the ionic lightning, were more than enough to fling him, unprotected, into the Void between realities- the source of the energies that make up the Great Barrier around the Milky Way. He fell, seemingly forever, through searing pain and flashes of incredible insight, tumbling over and over, until he felt a tiny twinge of familiarity- reality, just a touch of it. He reached for it desperately, and fell through a crack. When he rematerialized, he was in 1984, in Seattle, on Earth. But not HIS Earth. His latent Electrokinetic abilities surfaced, as well as his latent Electromagnetic Empathic abilities. He hacked the Social Security Network, and forged an identity. He had a plan, however. He applied for numerous grants, then applied for college admission. He received his PHd in three years, and applied for government research grants for N-Dimensional Research. Within two years, the Portal was built. When government-sponsored industrial espionage forced him through the Portal before it was ready, there was an interdimensional implosion. The crater stood 10 miles across, and 5 miles deep. No radiation, no blast wave....simply a hole with smooth sides....glazed. The resulting shockwave sent him thru the dimensions, again... Skills Training: Space fleet Basic Training (Earth military similar) Training: Space Fleet Engineering Training (23rd-century spacefaring technology) Training: Space Fleet Officer Training (Earth military OCS) Combat: Fleet-Fu (double-handed chops, flying kicks, mighty roundhouse swings, karate-style chops) Combat: Energy Weapons (handheld) Combat: Energy Weapons (ship-to-ship) Combat: Bladed Weapons Science: N-Dimensional Geometry Science: N-Dimensional Physics Science: N-Dimensional Chemistry Science: Temporal Physics Performance: Music (Bagpipes) Knowledge: Science Fiction Knowledge: Philosophy Knowledge: Warp Physics Knowledge: Matter Transmission Knowldege: Starship Engineering Knowledge: Small Spacecraft Engineering Knowledge: Forcefield Engineering Knowledge: Structural Engineering Knowledge: Communications Engineering Knowledge: Steam Engineering Knowledge: Weapons Engineering Knowledge: Roleplaying Games (Advanced) Knowledge: Brewing and Distillation Knowledge: 1980s Earth Knowledge: His Home Timeline Knowledge: Space Fleet Knowledge: Scotland Language: Federation Standard Language: English Language: Binary Language: Gaelic Powers: Raster has stopped aging since his initial unprotected transition through interdimensional space (he hasn't noticed the extent of this, as of yet- this makes him immune to any aging effect). He has a fixed quantum state, which makes him resistant to phase changes- this has the effect of making him difficult to lock onto with teleportation devices or powers. He's particularly-sensitive to temporal and dimensional phenomena as a result of his experiences and condition. POWER - Eidetic Memory: This allows the bearer to fully recall all events, in perfect detail, from the first moments of consciousness. Sometimes, this may not be a pleasant ability to have. Psych: Raster, while not a pacifist, is certainly no warmonger. However, he's odd in this, in that it motivates him to end battles quickly, many times via unconventional and (some might say) dirty methods. Raster has no family to speak of, and he'd made as much peace as he was likely to get with the death of his parents long before he got bounced around the timelines, so he tends to make his friends as he goes, avoiding making promises or hard-bound ties. Oaths, of course, he keeps, simply because they're under his control. Except when they aren't, of course. It's wibbly-wobbly that way. The psych evals Raster keeps getting indicate a hero-complex, with possible death-wish tendencies. however, Raster is very much a pantheistic solipist. He suspects his author (or player) has no interest in killing him off, and he tends to act accordingly. Who's to say is he's right or wrong? Why, his creator, of course. He often finds himself hoping his creator brought the GM some pizza. Raster's roleplaying days are far from over, and he delights in introducing new people to the process, especially when he finds his historical viewpoint hasn't been represented well enough. Some complain this makes him very Old Man-like. Raster is definitely loyal to a fault, and willing to take risks that others would never even contemplate- after all- he's seen things no one would possibly believe. This character is a somewhat world-weary dimension-jumper. His usual motivation is to find a way home. He's genial, and quite Scottish, as that is his ancestry. He likes to tinker, because he is, after all, an Engineer at heart. He generally subscribes to his home timeline's mores of non-intervention, though that philosophy has been strained due to the many universes he's traveled to- he's becoming convinced that he's a character in a game, and is developing the notion that there IS no objective reality- all of Reality is fiction, somewhere, sometime. He loves his A&W Rootbeer floats, and has fashioned a mini replicator unit just for the purposes of creating tools and his root beer on the fly as he goes. As of yet, he's still feeling out this new world he's landed in- his choice of sides will depend upon how he is treated- and upon how he sees others treated, by each side.
Service Record		Raster's file is marked as MIA, 2279