William Ross

William Johannes Ross (b. 2310s) was among the leading Admirals in the Federation Starfleet during the Dominion War and a prominent leader in the admiralty in the years immediately following that conflict. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine : et. al.)

Early Life
In the 2320s, when Ross was seven years old, he and his parents took the publically-offered tour of the Palais de la Concorde; young Ross entered the Presidential Office for the first time that year, and met several Federation Councillors, though he did not meet President Thelian. (novel: Articles of the Federation.)

Early Career
In the 2350s, Ross was a Lieutenant Commander, and worked with Starfleet Intelligence. In 2355 he recruited the sevices of civilian captains Giancarlo and Aldo Corsi of the freighter Ulrika's Hope to conduct some discreet scans of the Topin system in hopes of gaining intelligence on the workings within the Cardassian Union.

Despite Ross's assurances, the scans were detected and the Ulrika's Hope was intercepted by a Cardassian vessel commanded by Gul Mogad, who killed Giancarlo Corsi. Ross and his team managed to save most of the rest of the Hope's crew, but the grieving Aldo gave Mogad the intell gathered in exchange for a cessation of hostilities. (SCE eBook: Home Fires)

Section 31
Ross was assigned to the USS Leonov during the conflict with the Tzenkethi as second officer. During one battle against two Tzenkethi vessels the Leonov's warp core was breached, and the crew barely had time to make it to escape pods. The Tzenkethi killed half of the surviving crew by shooting down the pods. Those who survived found refuge on an L-class planet.

A few months later, Ross learned that the Leonov's coordinates had been given to the Tzenkethi by a member of a rogue intelligency network from within the Federation. Ross tracked down the agent to a remote moon in the Arias sector, where the agent of the rogue intelligence agency known as Section 31 explained his reasoning. The Leonov  had been about to receive orders to destroy a presumed Tzenkethi industrial complex that had been based on bad intelligence. Section 31 thought that the loss of innocent life would aggravate matters with the Tzenkethi, and took steps to keep the Leonov from carrying out its mission.

Ross made the difficult decision not to report the man to Starfleet Command and would work with Section 31 again at various times in his career. (SCE eBook: The Future Begins)

Admiral Ross
Admiral Ross was assigned to command Starbase 375 in 2372, following the the death of Admiral Eric Hahn and the arrest of Captain Ishmael Snowden for his role in James Leyton's conspiracy against the Federation government. (: The Oppressor's Wrong) During the Dominion War of 2373-2375, he commanded the bulk of the fleet in the Federation's war effort against the Dominion from this post. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Ross kept busy in the months following the war, overseeing the response to an attack by rogue Jem'Hadar soldiers on starbase Deep Space 9 (DS9 novels: Avatar, Books One and Two) and coordinating fleet actions during the Gateways crisis. (Star Trek: Gateways miniseries)

In 2376, Ross headed the inquiry into the near-destruction of the USS da Vinci at Galvan VI, and found Captain David Gold not at fault for the incident. (SCE eBook: Breakdowns)

In 2379, Ross discovered that Federation President Min Zife was responsible for supplying the Tezwan madman Kinchawn with the weapons that were responsible for the deaths of 6000 Klingon warriors. Ross worked with Section 31 to force Zife to step down from office and turned him over to a Vulcan Section 31 agent named L'Haan who had the President and two of his top advisors quietly executed for their crimes. (TNG novels: A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal)

Following Zife's resignation, Ross was considered as a likely candidate for the office. He declined to run, and instead became an advisor to Nanietta Bacco's campaign. (TNG novel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace)

Shortly after Bacco's election, Ross and Admiral Leonard James Akaar ordered the USS Titan under Captain William T. Riker to Romulus in response to Praetor Tal'Aura's request for relief and humanitarian aid to the stricken Romulan Star Empire following Shinzon's assassination of the Imperial Senate. (TTN novel: Taking Wing)

Ross served as Starfleet liaison to the president following Bacco's election. In late 2380, he retired from this position, and from Starfleet, when Bacco discovered his role in the forced resignation of Zife. (novel: Articles of the Federation)


 * In his numerous Star Trek: Deep Space Nine appearances he was played by actor Barry Jenner. Ross' age is conjecture based upon the age of Jenner; an age of 58 in 2375 yields a birth year of 2317, placing Ross's Palais tour at age seven in 2324. This is consistent with the novel's claim that Thelian was president at that time, since Thelian is conjectured to have assumed office in 2321.