Torvig Bu-Kar-Nguv

Torvig Bu-Kar-Nguv
Full name:	Torvig Bu-Kar-Nguv
Species:	Choblik
Gender:	Male
Affiliation:	Federation Starfleet
Family
Marital Status:	Single
Career
Previous Assignment:	Starfleet Academy
Assignment:	Engineer, USS Titan
Rank:	Ensign
Insignia:

Starfleet cadet Torvig Bu-kar-nguv was a Starfleet Academy senior performing his work-study tour under Captain William T. Riker on board the USS Titan in the years 2379 and 2380.

Torvig was a Choblik, a diminutive race resembling deer with ostrich-shaped bodies and long tails, and equipped with bionic enhancements. The origins of the Choblik's bionic enhancements is lost to time, but the Choblik believe that their world, Choblav, was visited in its ancient past by beings known as the Great Builders, who introduced the cybernetics that gave the otherwise sub-sentient and armless animals greater dexterity and language capabilities. (TTN novel: Orion's Hounds)

Torvig entered Starfleet Academy with the intent of a career in engineering.

He was assigned to the USS Titan in his senior year in order to complete the Academy's work-study curriculum. In the early days of Titan's voyage, he perceived what he believed to be a human-centric chauvinism on Titan, despite the vessel's intended goal of having the most racially diverse crew in Starfleet's history. Torvig even made a wager with Arkenite Lieutenant Eviku that Captain Riker would give the ship's dedication plaque a human motto. Torvig lost the wager when Riker chose the Vulcan phrase Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. (TTN novels: Taking Wing, The Red King)

On board the Titan, Torvig felt the his cybernetic nature, similar in appearance to Borg technology, made others, particularly security chief Ranul Keru, uneasy. However, he reacted to this more with curiosity than distress, since Choblik emotional states are comparatively subdued thanks to their cyborg brains. Pragmatic and rational by nature, Torvig was nonetheless driven by a great, perhaps excessive enthusiasm for learning and experimentation. Wishing to know his crew better, the ever-empirical Torvig initiated a series of experiments using nanoprobes in order to test the limits of his shipmate's discomfiture, in hopes of alleviating it or at least understanding it better.

At first Keru, who had personal issues with the Borg, was enraged at the Choblik's behavior and wanted him brought up on charges. However, after getting to know and understand the little Choblik better, Keru eventually accepted the cadet's offered friendship. (TTN novel: Orion's Hounds)

When an encounter with the Eye of Erykon disabled many of Titan's systems, Torvig was able to save the ship's warp core by directly plugging his cybernetic systems into the ship's computer and interfaced directly with them at the speed of thought. (TTN novel: Sword of Damocles)

After his long-distance graduation and commission on ship, Torvig remained aboard the Titan along with fellow cadet Zurin Dakal. By 2381, he had established a workshop aboard the vessel, where he often created unusual mechanical devices. One such device was what appeared to be a small slab two meters tall, half a meter wide, and barely four millimeters thick, which he debuted to Keru. Although Keru was unable to discern the purpose of the device, a touch activated what turned out to be a command processor with the ability to display data based on the individual's biological readings in the language and wavelength of light most suited to the user. Keru declared Torvig a great problem-solver, which Torvig remarked was one of the greatest compliments given to a Choblik.

Keru asked Torvig to participate in potential Borg training exercises, given his knowledge of cybernetic-based lifeforms. Although security officer Gian Sortollo questioned the simulation's ferocity, Torvig explained it might not be aggressive enough, if the reports from the USS Enterprise and USS Voyager were to be believed. Torvig was also a member of the away team to board the shuttlecraft Mance and descend to the surface of New Erigol where they made contact with the Caeliar and missing Earth Starfleet Captain Erika Hernandez. (ST - Destiny novel: Gods of Night)

After being informed the away team could not leave the surface of New Erigol, Keru and Torvig were assigned as one of the teams to scout the city of Axion. The two discovered an odd statue which Torvig suggested might be a road sign, but Keru determined it to be a musical instrument. Torvig was extremely curious, especially about the Caeliar and their mastery over the catoms, finding them to be the evolution that the Choblik longed for. During the full team meeting, Torvig was of the opinion that asking Erika Hernandez for assistance was a worthy suggestion. Torvig only knew of the escape attempt sixty seconds before it started, when Keru gave over his tricorder which was set to beam Keru to the shuttlecraft Mance. After having time to reflect on the failure, Torvig again brought up the possibility of enlisting the aid of Hernandez, which was again dismissed. (ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals)

While the away team waited on New Erigol, diplomatic officer Deanna Troi began to suffer internal damage due to an aborting fetus; Doctor Ree was forced to resort to biting the officer and injecting a Pahkwa-thanh venom into her to halt the development. As the rest of the away team and Caeliar liaison Inyx confronted the doctor, Torvig cowered in the hallway, his prey nature taking over. Inyx took Troi away for medical care, and the rest of the away team scatted, Torvig first. Some time later, Torvig led Keru through the catacombs of Axion, having detected a subtle shift in the city's quantum field, and located the Omega molecule generator powering the city-ship. After Troi returned to the group, healed, most of the away team rushed her in an embrace, but Torvig kept his distance, as usual.

Due to negotiation with Erika Hernandez and the Titan, the away team was eventually released from their capture. After returning to their ship, Torvig took some time to escape from his quarters and seek an isolated location in which to think; Keru found him in a remote forward compartment just above the main deflector dish, as his shared quarters with Ensign Worvan were unsuitable due to the number of questions he received from his roommate. Keru noticed that something was bothering Torvig, and he admitted an amount of anxiety due to the Borg, whom he had previously thought of as an abstract, instead of the reality now imposed upon him by the invasion forces. He found that he did not feel ready to face them in combat, and a greater fear of his own cybernetic components betraying him. Keru promised to not allow that to happen. (ST - Destiny novel: Lost Souls)

Special thanks to Orions Hounds author Christopher L. Bennett for permission to use his drawing of Torvig. His website has complete annotations for Orion's Hounds and other works.