Paul Mayweather, Sr.

Paul Mayweather Sr. was a Human male who was born on the Earth freighter, ECS Horizon in the early 22nd century. This made him a "space boomer" as his father had served on the Horizon all his life and had 5 different jobs, two of which were on the bridge. (ENT episode: "Horizon").

Paul Sr. was the husband of Rianna and father of two sons named, Paul and Travis. He was the commanding officer of the Horizon since he was young man. He was initially an engineer and didn't know the first thing about running operations on the bridge. The ship went so far behind schedule that he almost lost his ECA license. He wanted to quit, but Rianna convinced him to stay on the job and eventually got used to it. Under his command, the ship encountered many different alien species, some never encountered by the newly chartered Starfleet. Some peaceful, such as the Deltans in 2141. Or hostile, such as Nausicaan pirates (in one such encounter the Horizon barely escaped in one piece). The crew also encountered many spatial anomalies and phenomenan while on its journeys between trading posts. One such dangerous case was when the Horizon encountered a Class-3 neutronic wavefront, forcing the entire crew to take shelter int the ship's core to survive the storm. They remained there for six weeks, and the crew became increasingly nervous, including Paul Sr., as the ship's generators, grav-plating and life-support went down. In the end the ship and crew survived, but Paul Sr. was rattled by the event. (ENT episodes: "Fortunate Son", "The Catwalk", & "Bound").

One of the main highlights of his career was when in 2137, Paul Sr. gained clearence from the Thelasian Trading Confederacy to do business on the Morianne-Deneva run, which was a profitable shipping lane. Paul Sr. then went into business with a Thelasian trader named Maxim Sen, who paid Parl Sr. to use his ship to transport his cargo; supposedly high-tech solar panels, on the trading run. It was discovered, when the local authorities impounded the Horizon and confiscated the cargo, was that Sen's cargo was really weapons and he was using Paul Sr. to smuggle them throughout the Confederacy. Though Paul Sr. suffered no charges put against him, or his crew, he lost a large amount of money in the process. (ENT novel: Rosetta).

Paul Sr. came into conflict with one of his sons; Travis. Paul Sr. had the wish of Travis succeeding him as captain of the Horizon when he stepped down and was "grooming him" for the job. However, Travis heard of Starfleet and relished the idea of exploring the entire galaxy in state-of-the-art ships, which was something the Horizon itself would never be. Travis then left the ship and went back to Earth. They never spoke to each other again.

Paul Sr. initially hated Travis leaving, but then felt happy for him and was proud of his decision. He even helped Travis get selected for the maiden voyage of Earth's first Warp 5-capable starship; the NX-class, Enterprise (NX-01). The Enterprise's Captain Jonathan Archer had requested recommendation letters from the commanding officers of all the applicants for the conn officer position, which Travis had applied for. Paul Sr. only wrote one line, which said "I've never met a more natural stick and rudder man in my life and you'd be a fool if you didn't choose him". Archer would later express that Paul Sr.'s determination of Travis's skill was right. (ENT episode: "Horizon")

Paul Sr. contracted an illness in 2152, and Rianna, the medic, thought he would recover, but in the end he died. He was succeeded as captain of the Horizon by Paul Jr. Travis did not learn of his death until six weeks later (due to slow civilian communications channels). He also learned of Paul Sr.'s letter to Captain Archer, and finally learned of the love and appreciation Paul Sr. never got the chance of expressing to him. (ENT episode: "Horizon").

External link

• Paul Mayweather, Sr. article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.