Alan Harrison
Male

Place of Origin: Earth

Alan is of average height and of medium build. He keeps his hair at regulation academy length, even though he never attended Starfleet Academy.

Alan is often regarded as amiable. However, he’s been known to (infrequently) lose his temper when insulted. His life experiences have taught him to be patient, which has assisted greatly in a fair number of prior postings. His alternative path to becoming a Starfleet officer can occasionally provides a different perspective than gained through Academy training.

A colony is not his ideal Starfleet posting, but he hopes to make the best of the situation and contribute what he can.

Alan Robert Harrison was born to Drs. Karl and Rebecca Harrison in Seattle on Earth in 2387. Growing up, he never thought that he would end up in Starfleet. Instead, he settled on a path of engineering research, particularly focusing on computing. This eventually led him to graduate studies in computer science. However, after a while, Alan started to get restless: he yearned to leave Earth and see the galaxy. Eventually, he visited a Starfleet recruiting office and ended up signing up for Starfleet Officer Candidate School (OCS), an alternative path into Starfleet’s officer ranks for those who did not attend the Academy. Alan’s decision to join Starfleet concerned his parents, who had never left Earth, as did his decision to leave his graduate studies prematurely. As such, they worried about his safety and thought he was throwing away a promising academic career in the process — this led to somewhat of a rift in Alan’s otherwise amiable relationship with his parents.

After a few months of training, Alan graduated from OCS and received his first assignment as an Engineering Officer on the USS Yucatan in the 5th (Epsilon) Fleet, where he was in charge of maintaining the ship’s computer systems. The Yucatan was a Luna-class starship primarily assigned to exploration missions far from the core worlds of the Federation — it was Alan’s dream posting. During his time on the Yucatan, Alan saw large swaths of the quadrant and enjoyed every moment of it, both the excitement(?) of tense encounters with other galactic powers, as well as the calm of deep space. Although not a scientist himself, Alan was fascinated by the interesting phenomena the Yucatan encountered during its travels.

However, after a few years on the Yucatan, Starfleet decided that it was time to rotate Alan back planetside, assigning him to teach courses in computer systems at Starfleet Academy on Earth. While Alan was upset at this move, orders were orders and he was certain Starfleet would not have sent him back to Earth without a reason, so he packed up his bags, bid his crewmates adieu, and disembarked from the Yucatan at the next starbase for the next transport to Earth. Despite his misgivings, a bright side of this transfer is that it came with a promotion to Lieutenant, Junior Grade, as Starfleet knew nobody would take him seriously at the Academy as an Ensign.

While Alan was not entirely disappointed to be back on Earth, as it gave him time to catch up with old friends and family (including his parents), he felt isolated at the Academy. Most of the cadets he taught were only a few years younger than him. Meanwhile, most of the other instructors were significantly older than him, teaching cadets using experience gained over long, proud careers in Starfleet. Meanwhile, Alan’s advanced training, combined with his real-world experience on state-of-the-art starships had led Starfleet to assign him to teaching duties. His early career posting as an “expert” led to some jealousy from the other instructors, isolating him further. As such, Alan kept on the lookout for any open engineering positions on starships, hoping he would be able to return to a position like he had held on the Yucatan. While he found some, his transfer requests were repeatedly turned down, likely because Starfleet thought his unusual path to Starfleet made it better for him to teach instead of to do.

However, after two years at the Academy, one of Alan’s transfer requests was finally approved. While he was hoping for a position on a starship assigned to exploration, he had begun requesting transfers for open positions located on any ship, station, or colony he saw. Unfortunately (from his point of view), this request was for a colony assignment — Alan had been assigned to Haumea Colony. However, despite any misgivings about his new posting, it would get him away from the Academy and closer to the frontiers of the Federation — it also came with a nice promotion to full Lieutenant. Alan broke the news to his parents and, although they again worried about the dangers of an assignment off Earth, they were more accepting than the previous time around. This situation was probably helped by his brother Paul’s decision to join Starfleet while Alan was on the Yucatan. A few weeks later, after his last course ended and he had a week’s respite by the beach, Alan set out on a transport for his new assignment.

2391: Starfleet Officer Candidate School (OCS), Earth
2391: Graduated OCS, Entered Starfleet as an Ensign
2391-2394: Engineering Officer (Computer Systems Specialist), USS Yucatan
2394: Promoted to Lieutenant, Junior Grade
2394-2396: Computer Systems Instructor, Starfleet Academy, Earth
2396: Promoted to Lieutenant
2396-Present: Chief Engineering Officer, Haumea Colony