Thom Steinhauer was a 22nd century Human male soldier. Steinhauer served as a member of the MACO contingent assigned to the Columbia (NX-02) by 2156.
Biography[]
Steinhauer was aboard the Columbia when it suffered a crippling attack at the hands of the Romulans in 2156. Captain Erika Hernandez ordered the ship towards a Class M planet at impulse close to c, a decision some of the MACOs felt strongly against.
After the Columbia arrived at the planet later determined to be Erigol, Steinhauer was one of the six MACOs that beamed down to survey the surface, and then was joined by the flight officer away team that made contact with the Caeliar, becoming permanent visitors due to their desire for complete isolation from the universe. When the MACOs decided to rebel and escape their imprisonment on Erigol, Steinhauer and Private Mazzetti subdued the Captain.
Steinhauer then was part of the team to travel to Mantilis and capture the Great Work apparatus, forcing the Caeliar there to reduce the scattering field, allowing Yacavino to contact the Columbia. Pembleton fired on Kiona Thayer, injuring her foot, and Steinhauer held a combat knife to her neck in order to ensure the cooperation of the Caeliar scientists. After Hernandez was freed and allowed to speak to her officers from the Quorum, she insisted that Pembleton, then Steinhauer, kill Thayer so that she did not suffer needlessly; eventually, he and the other MACOs stood down, and Mazzetti found a medkit to stanch her bleeding. However, the extragalactic feedback pulse that disrupted the Great Work caused the planet to explode; the city of Mantilis was able to escape, but millions of Caeliar sacrificed themselves to ensure that the six humans lived to crash land on an unknown planet thousands of years into their past. (ST - Destiny novel: Gods of Night)
The humans put all their efforts into survival, but following the deaths of Mazzetti and Crichlow, they decided to make a raft and leave their island in favour of a continent. After exploring the whole snowy island and found no trees or other raft making materials, Steinhauer became delusional, and killed himself in desperation on the shore. (ST - Destiny novel: Lost Souls)
