Mackenzie Calhoun


 * For the mirror universe counterpart, see M'k'n'zy of Calhoun (mirror).

Mackenzie Calhoun (formerly known as M'k'n'zy of Calhoun, a.k.a. 'Calhoun the God') was a male Xenexian Starfleet Officer who served in the late 24th century.

Early life
M'k'n'zy was born to Gr'zy in the city of Calhoun on the Danteri-occupied planet Xenex in 2334. M'k'n'zy had one elder brother, D'ndai. (SS NF (Death After Life))

When he was fourteen seasons old, M'k'n'zy and his brother witnessed their father being beaten to death by Danteri soldiers in Calhoun's public city square. Although, M'k'n'zy wanted to leap forward and defend his father, D'ndai held him back, fearing that M'k'n'zy himself would also be killed by the soldiers. 

Over the next three seasons, the anger at his father's death led M'k'n'zy to begin to plot rebellion and driving the Danteri oppressors off of Xenex. On a hot day in 2351, M'k'n'zy decided to begin the rebellion by attacking and killing a Danteri tax collector named Stener. Secretly trailing Stener and his escort as they left Calhoun and traveled along the single road to the small village of Moute, he soon seized upon his chance, hurling stones at the three guards to knock them unconscious, he then rounded upon Stener with his sword. However, one of the guards wasn't completely subdued and he leaped to Stener's defense before M'k'n'zy could impale him. While Stener rode off to safety, M'k'n'zy engaged in a swordfight with the guard, eventually overcoming and killing him, his "first blood". As the guard lay dying, M'k'n'zy felt compelled to stay with him and hold his hand until he died. Once he had, M'k'n'zy openly wept for an amount of time, before leaving before Danteri hunting parties found him. 

Warlord
Following the failed attempt on Stener, M'k'n'zy returned home to tell D'ndai what he had done and of his intentions to lead a rebellion against the Danteri. D'ndai had no great love of the Danteri and agreed to help his brother gather up supporters as well as allowing his several private fliers to be used in the coming battle. Out of respect for M'k'n'zy, he was appointed to the rank of r'ksha and given command of the largest flier and a crew of ten of the "truest and bravest men", although they were all barely teenagers. 

Unfortunately by the end of the first year of combat, all of M'k'n'zy's men had been killed during separate engagements with the Danteri. The last of his men died during a "surprise" raid on a Danteri outpost when M'k'n'zy, emboldened by many successful campaigns, had acted on information given to him by a source, which in turn was a Danteri trap. M'k'n'zy's so-called "sixth sense" for danger saw them avoid walking directly into an ambush which meant they weren't all killed or captured, but the resulting firefight was just as catastrophic. 

Although M'k'n'zy wasn't as emotionally upset by his men's death than he had been when he killed the guard, he still carried an immense burden of guilt despite assurances by his brother, that he was not responsible. While walking the streets of Calhoun one night, M'k'n'zy came across a mysterious building known as "R'Ksha Foldes" ("The Captain's Table"). His curiosity getting the better of him, M'k'n'zy entered and he was faced with a number of strange people including the mysterious Cap who welcomed him as the "youngest captain ever to visit the Captain's Table". A short time later, M'k'n'zy found himself in a "disagreement" with another patron at the bar, Miles Gloriosus, after M'k'n'zy inadvertently sat at his table, although M'k'n'zy was able to get the better of Gloriosus. Following this, M'k'n'zy talked to Cap about the attack on the outpost, and Cap told him that it was his fault, because as the captain, he was ultimately responsible for the success and failure of the mission. M'k'n'zy then left the "Captain's Table" with Cap promising that he would tell a story next time he visited. When, he tried to return to the bar a few weeks later, he couldn't find any trace of it. 

By the time he was nineteen seasons old, M'k'n'zy had become a warlord amongst his people and had eventually succeeded in freeing Xenex from their Danteri overlords. He was likened to Alexander the Great by Captain Jean-Luc Picard of a visiting Federation starship, the USS Stargazer (NCC-2893). Picard urged M'k'n'zy to join Starfleet, warning him that things would not go well if he allowed the climax of his life to occur in his youth. 

In 2354, Calhoun fathered a child by Calhoun clan widow, Catrine, according to Xenexian traditions. Calhoun would not meet the boy, Xyon, until he was well into adulthood

Starfleet Academy
Upon entering the Academy, M'k'n'zy of Calhoun took the name Mackenzie Calhoun as it was easier for his contemporaries at the Academy to pronounce. 

Early Starfleet career
Prior to 2369, Calhoun was serving as third officer and tactical officer aboard a starship. During an important first contact mission to which Calhoun's ship was assigned, Captain Edward Jellico and his son was temporarily transferred to the ship for the duration of the mission.

Shortly after Jellico and his son beamed down with Mackenzie and a security escort, the contact mission turned sour and the natives turned on the Starfleet officers. In the melee, all of the security escort except Calhoun was killed and he alone defended the Jellicos with a nearly depleted phaser and a club which he made from chair legs from between 15 and 20 armed natives. Although Calhoun suffered numerous abrasions, contusions, two broken ribs and a fractured skull, he and the Jellicos returned to their ship safely.

Following this, Calhoun had earned Jellico's friendship and support which helped him further his career in Starfleet. 

The USS Grissom
By 2369, Calhoun had risen up the ranks to become a full commander. By this point in his life, the savage M'k'n'zy had now been covered with a cloak of respectability and civility, however Calhoun still found himself appraising anyone who approached him, which proved off-putting to other Starfleet officers and meant that Calhoun was cast in the role of an outsider aboard many of his duty assignments. Following his promotion, Calhoun applied for the first officer's position aboard the USS Grissom (NCC-42857), under the command of Captain Norman Kenyon. After waiting at Starbase 27 for several days, the Grissom arrived and Calhoun beamed up to the ship to be interviewed by Captain Kenyon.

During the interview, Kenyon noted that while Calhoun came highly recommended by Admiral Jellico, he had failed to gain any sterling recommendations from his previous commanding officers. 

In 2369, after Captain Kenyon's brother and daughter were killed while on a diplomatic mission to Anzibar, the captain slowly started to go insane. Kenyon eventually killed himself, but not before the crew of the Grissom nearly mutinied.

Calhoun resigned from Starfleet shortly afterward, believing that he had somehow let down Captain Kenyon, after punching his superior officer and former Academy Dean of Students, Admiral Edward Jellico. 

Starfleet Intelligence
From the years 2370 to 2373, Calhoun worked for Admiral Alynna Nechayev in an unofficial capacity as an undercover operative, doing various jobs on the behalf of Starfleet Intelligence. Included among the jobs tackled by Calhoun while working for SI were the destruction of a Federation designed phased cloak that had been turned over to a Romulan commander by Picard in accordance with the Treaty of Algeron, and the rescue of a Orion slave girl named Vandelia after an undercover investigation of crimelord Zolon Darg. (SS NF (Loose Ends))

The USS Excalibur
Calhoun was recruited back into Starfleet in the year 2373 by Captain Picard, who felt that Calhoun's talents would be perfectly suited to commanding a ship designated to patrol Sector 221-G, the recently fallen Thallonian Empire. Calhoun was given command of the USS Excalibur (NCC-26517) and was reunited with Elizabeth Shelby, who served as his first officer. 

Calhoun served as the Excalibur's captain until her destruction in early 2376. After the destruction of the Excalibur, Calhoun was believed to have been killed in action. In truth, Calhoun had found himself on the planet Yakaba where he met a local woman named Rheela. Upon Rheela's death, Calhoun adopted her orphaned son, Moke.

Calhoun returned to Starfleet just in time for the dedication of the USS Excalibur (NCC-26517-A), which was to be commanded by Shelby. Calhoun had realized how much Shelby meant to him while on Yakaba, and immediately proposed marriage to her. Shelby accepted after verifying that this individual was, indeed, Mackenzie Calhoun. The two were married in a ceremony officiated by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. They honeymooned on Xenex. (SS NF (A Little Getaway))

The USS Excalibur-A
Calhoun commanded the Excalibur-A for several years during such events as the Gateways Crisis, the conflict with the entities known as the Beings, and the brief war with the Selelvians and the Tholian Assembly. 

By 2379, after the Selevian war and the establishment of the New Thallonian Protectorate, the Excalibur was attached to Space Station Bravo under Calhoun's newly-promoted wife, Admiral Elizabeth Shelby.

Acting on a hunch as to the whereabouts of the missing Princess Kalinda of New Thallon, Calhoun brought the ship to the planet Priatia, where the Excalbur encountered the Priatians' allies, the extra-dimensional race known as the Teuthis. 

The Teuthis sent the Excalibur to their own realm, an enclosed gelatinous environment similar to the Fluidic space of Species 8472. There, Calhoun "negotiated" a deal with the native species, the Teuthis and the Bolgar, that allowed the Excalibur to return home. 

During the Borg attack on Earth in 2380, Calhoun marshaled nearly a dozen starships under his flag and intercepted the Enterprise-E on its way to Earth, transferring the command of the fleet to Captain Picard before they engaged the USS Einstein (Nebula class). 

Several months later, a full-scale invasion by the Borg led to the decimation of several Federation and Klingon worlds. During one engagement, Calhoun and the Excalibur crew attempted to use their vessel as a projectile against a Borg cube, to no avail. However, they were nonetheless successful in destroying the cube and saving a Federation colony. 

Deep Space Station K-7
By 2409, captain Calhoun was assigned to Deep Space Station K-7, along the Klingon border. He coordinated Starfleet ships in skirmishes with the Klingons. 

Elizabeth Shelby
While attending Starfleet Academy, Calhoun first met and became romantically involved with cadet Elizabeth Shelby, and the two became engaged to be married. Calhoun would later claim that he had first seen Shelby in a dream years before ever meeting her.

Calhoun and Shelby ended their relationship after Shelby decided to repeat her fourth year at the Academy.