Tuvok

Vulcan Starfleet officer Commander Tuvok served in Starfleet at two different points in his life. He served with distiction on the USS Excelsior, the USS Wyoming, the USS Billings as well as teaching for fifteen years at Starfleet Academy. Tuvok is perhaps best known, however, for his stints serving on the USS Voyager (NCC-74656) and the USS Titan.

Early Life
Tuvok was born in the year 2264 on the Vulcanis Lunar Colony - situated on T'Rukhemai - to Sunak and T'Meni. (VOY episodes: "Flashback", "Unimatrix Zero" and "Hunters"; and novel Pathways). Tuvok struggled with his emotions on two separate occasions in his youth. Shortly after the death of his pet sehlat Wari, the grief stricken Tuvok fled into the harsh desert of the Plains of Gol for four months, embarking on the ritual of tal'oth, in which he purged the emotions that came with attachment and pride.(TLE novel: The Sundered)

In 2280, he became infatuated with a visiting Terellian girl named Jara. Tuvok again journeyed across the desert and studied for several months under the tutalage of a Vulcan master in another attempt to purge his emotions. (VOY episode: "Gravity")

Starfleet Academy
In the year 2289, Tuvok was preparing for a life of study, logic, and the Kolinahr discipline when his parents, believing that his galaxy-view was too narrow, enrolled him in Starfleet Academy in order to broaden his horizons. During his time at the Academy, Tuvok befriended Cadets Scott Hutchinson and Sophie Timmons, the latter of which developed romantic feelings toward Tuvok, but of course, Tuvok did not reciprocate.

As a freshman at the Academy, Tuvok beat an athlete from UCLA in the four hundred meter hurdles competition. (VOY novel: Pathways)

First Starfleet Career
Upon graduating from the Academy, Tuvok was assigned to the science division of the USS Excelsior under Captain Hikaru Sulu. While serving on the Excelsior, Tuvok befriended Lieutenant Leonard James Akaar and Lieutenant Lojur.

Tuvok was never comfortable serving with humans, but was reluctant to disobey his parents's wishes. However, in the year 2298, after six years serving aboard the Excelsior, Tuvok resigned from Starfleet and returned home to continue his study of the Kolinahr discipline. (TLE novel: The Sundered)

T'Pel
Tuvok returned to Vulcan and continued his study of logic and discipine when he was struck by pon farr, the mating instinct. Like many young Vulcans, Tuvok was betrothed at a very young age in an arrangement made by his parents. Soon after, he performed the Vulcan marriage ritual with T'Pel. Tuvok chose to live the life of a married man rather than return to Mount Seleya and the study of logic. In the years that followed, Tuvok and T'Pel had 3 sons, Sek, Varith, and Elieth and a daughter, Asil.

In the 2340s, Tuvok fulfilled a life-long ambition by pilgimaging to Mt. Seleya on foot across Vulcan's Forge. The journey took him several months. During the journey, Tuvok came to the conclusion that it was time for him to give something back to then universe that had given him so much and that the best way to do that was to re-join Starfleet. (VOY novel: Pathways)

The Wyoming
Tuvok re-entered Starfleet as an Ensign, and by the year 2349 he was serving aboard the USS Wyoming under Captain Karl Broadnax. Broadnax had accepted Tuvok on the recommedation of his first officer, Tuvok's old Excelsior crew-mate, Leonard James Akaar.

Tuvok was briefly assigned to the USS Stargazer under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard when an unstable situation developed in the Kellasian Sector, and Tuvok was deemed to be the officer with the most experience in that sector. (TNG novel: Double Helix, #6: The First Virtue) Soon after Tuvok's return to the Wyoming, Captain Broadnax suddenly and unexpectedly died, and command of the Wyoming  was given to Akaar.

In October of 2349, Tuvok and Akaar were marooned on a barren, barely habitable rock known as Planetoid 437 for nearly two weeks. Akaar felt the honorable thing to do was to perform the w'lash'nogot, a Capellan suicide ritual, so that the dwindling supplies would be enough for Tuvok to survive. Tuvok refused to let his old friend and Captain die, and saved Akaar's life.

Despite the Wyoming rescuing the pair two days later, Akaar saw the disruption of the ancient ceremony as a betrayal by his old friend, and quickly arranged for Tuvok's transfer. (TTN novel: The Red King)

Kathryn Janeway
Tuvok spent the next twenty years with various assignments, including several years teaching at Starfleet Academy. In 2360, Tuvok was part of a covert team sent behind the borders of the Romulan Star Empire by Admiral Uhura to gain intelligence on the Romulan plague known as the gnawing. (TLE novel: Catalyst of Sorrows) Shortly after the undercover mission to Romulan space, Tuvok was working at Starfleet Command reviewing the tactical records of starship captains when he was asked to review the tactics and procedures of Admiral Owen Paris's protege', Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Bonestell. Tuvok was appalled at Janeway's lack of attention to tactical and security matters in deference to scientific research. Admiral Finnegan felt that Tuvok would be well-suited serving under Janeway on her next assignment, the USS Billings, where Tuvok could advise Janeway on tactical and security matters.

In 2371, Janeway requested that Tuvok join her as tactical officer on her new command, the Intrepid-class USS Voyager. Tuvok was surprised to hear Janeway tell him that she considered him and his advice to be invaluable to her, even though she would frequently ignore it. Tuvok realized that he had come to admire and respect Janeway as well, and accepted the assignment. (VOY novel: Pathways)

The Maquis
While on Voyager's shakedown cruise near the Badlands a few weeks later, Tuvok's sensors detected the energy signature of one of the Malkus Artifacts, and believed it to be in the hands of the Maquis. According to Starfleet General Order 16, when any of the Makus Arifacts were to be found by a starship, the artifact was to be confiscated immediately. Tuvok and the ship's first officer, Aaron Cavit, had devised a plan in which Tuvok would infiltrate the Maquis and gather intelligence after Voyager was on active duty. The discovery of the Malkus Artifact required that the plan be accelerated.

With the help of the USS Hood and Captain Robert DeSoto, Tuvok infiltrated the Maquis cell ran by former Starfleet officer Cal Hudson. Soon after, Hudson's vessel rendezvoused with  the Geronimo, a vessel ran by another former Starfleet Maquis commander named Chakotay. The Geronimo's crew required rescuing before the beleaguered vessel fell apart from within. One of Chakotay's crew, an Andorian named Tharia ch'Ren, had found the Malkus Artifact, and it drove him insane. Utilizing the artifact, Tharia left his shipmates on the Geronimo to die, and traveled on to the planet Slaybis, where he planned on executing a suspected double-agent.

Tuvok was among those that confronted Tharia on Slaybis. Following Tharia's death, Tuvok made certain that Starfleet obtained possesion of the artifact and continued his undercover assignment, being assigned to the cell ran by Chakotay. (VOY novella: "The Third Artifact", The Brave and the Bold book two)

In the month that followed, Tuvok served in Chakotay's cell and continued to gather information about the Maquis. When the planet Helena in the De-militarized Zone was infected with a variation of the deadly Double Helix virus, the Maquis became pulled into events. On the surface of the planet, Tuvok was contacted by a Ferengi named Shep who gave Tuvok valuable information in the investigation and eventual resolution of the outbreak. (TNG novel: Double Helix, #4: Quarantine)

Soon after, Chakotay, Tuvok and the rest of their cell were retreating into the Badlands after successfully destroying the Cardassian space station Opek Nor. Their vessel had eluded pursuit from Gul Aman Evek, when a massive displacement wave generated by the Nacene Caretaker transported the Maquis vessel 70,000 light years away into the distant reaches of the Delta Quadrant. ('VOY' novella: "The Badlands" book two, part three'')

Voyager
Captain Janeway soon came looking for her tactical officer, and Voyager was soon caught up in the same Nacene displacement wave and brought to the Delta Quadrant, 70,000 light-years from home.

Both Janeway and Chakotay's crews were missing personel, so the two captains decided to pool their resources in confronting the Caretaker. In the end, Janeway was forced to destroy the Caretaker's teleportation array in order to save the Ocampan people from the Kazon. The Starfleet and Maquis crews were later combined, with Chakotay as first officer, and Voyager set out on her long journey home. (VOY novelization: Caretaker) Tuvok, in his role as Chief of security, was initially distrustful of Chakotay, and even revoked Chakotay's command codes early in Voyager's journey when Captain Janeway was rendered comatose. (VOY short story: "Command Code" from the anthology Distant Shores)

In early 2375, Tuvok came under the influence of the song of the Monorhan spirits on the array known as Gremadia. Tuvok was grievously injured and almost killed while trying to join with them. (VOY novel: String Theory, #2: Fusion)

"Hazardous" Idea
In 2376, Tuvok was vocal with his feelings that the dangers of the vastly unexplored Delta Quadrant required a special tactical approach. He devised a team of elite tactical officers that could serve the ship's most dangerous situations, be they away missions or hazards onboard the ship. It was this idea that brought about the birth of the Hazard Team. Assembling the team, it immediately proved useful. Not only did the team help drive Scavenging pirates off the ship, it also helped Voyager escape a dampening field holding the ship in a desolate wasteland. Captain Janeway told Tuvok that upon the return of the ship to the Alpha Quadrant, she would reccomend that Hazard Teams be delpoyed throughout Starfleet. (VOY game: Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force)

Return Home
In 2377, Tuvok was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disease that would eventually eat away at his self-control. The cure was a relatively simple one, but required a mind-meld from a blood relative. Fortunately for Tuvok, Captain Janeway managed to ride Voyager through a Borg transwarp hub all of the way back to the Alpha Quadrant, where Tuvok was soon cured after a brief mind-meld with his son, Sek. (VOY novelization Endgame; novel Homecoming) The ship's escape was largely due to the heroism of the Hazard Team, proving that Tuvok's idea can truly make a difference aboard a starship. (game: Star Trek: Elite Force II)

Upon his return to the Alpha Quadrant and reunion with T'Pel, Tuvok accepted a position as an instructor at Starfleet Academy and a promotion to Commander. He was briefly reunited with his Voyager shipmates when a Borg virus infected Earth, and the Voyager crew was suspected of carrying it to the Federation. (VOY novel: The Farther Shore)

In early 2380*, he was briefly attached to the USS Enterprise-E in order to help integrate the Hazard Team into the ships operations, and was subsequently involved in the ship's battle against the Exomorphs. He also served as the ship's Chief of Security and Tactical officer while Worf was on leave, and assisted in the heroic defense of the ship from Idryll invaders.(game: Elite Force II)


 * * Tuvok's presense on the Enterprise in 2380 is in apparent contradiction with the Post-Nemesis and Titan literature.

Titan
In late 2379, Commander Tuvok was sent undercover to Romulus, to recall the legendary Ambassador Spock from his quest for re-unification back to the Federation to confer with the new Federation President Nanietta Bacco.

Tuvok was on Romulus when the Reman renegade Shinzon mounted his coup and assassinated Praetor Hiren and the Imperial Senate.

In the chaos and upheavals that followed, Tuvok was captured and imprisoned for several weeks by one of the factions. He was later rescued by Spock, and the two of them were retrieved from Romulus with the arrival of the USS Titan, under the command of Captain William T. Riker. Tuvok assisted on the bridge when Titan's tactical officer, Lieutenant Commander Ranul Keru was injured and rendered comatose. (TTN novel: Taking Wing)

Tuvok was onboard the Titan when she was transported to the satillite galaxy, the Smaller Magellanic Cloud, home of the Earth-human offshoot known as the Neyel, whom Tuvok had encountered while serving on the Excelsior. Also onboard the Titan was Tuvok's old friend from the Excelsior and the Wyoming, Leonard James Akaar, who was now an Admiral.

After the evacuation of as many of the Neyel people as the Titan could carry from the growth of of the proto-galaxy known to the Titan crew as the Red King, Akaar apologized to Tuvok for the way he treated him all of those years ago and for the years of friendship lost.

Captain Riker was impressed with Tuvok's performance during the crisis, and offered him a permanent position onboard the Titan as tactical officer. Not willing to be separated from his wife for another extended period, Tuvok only agreed after Riker approved of T'Pel's moving onto the ship with her husband. (TTN novel: The Red King)

In early-2380, shortly after Titan began her mission of exploration of the Gum Nebula, Tuvok came under the control of the cosmozoan species known as the Star-jellies. While under the Star-jellies influence, Tuvok assaulted shipmate Melora Pazlar and transmitted classified data to the Star-jellies.

No charges were brought up against Tuvok as it was determined that he was not acting of his own volition. After the incident, Lieutenant Pazlar asked Tuvok to instruct her in various means of self-defense. (TTN novel: Orion's Hounds)