"In the years after Cochrane's first flight, warp technology quickly dropped in price and increased in availability, spurring an exodus to the stars as people the world over sought to reach beyond their native soil. Most history books stop there, mentioning this movement in tandem with the burgeoning sense of unity mankind experienced during this era. Unfortunately, as always happens when a content majority writes its history, much was left out.

"Many nations of Earth have never been respected, treated well, or even considered at all when the great powers have met to dictate policy. Such was the case during the prosperous years following Cochrane's flight. Indeed, many nations of the "third world" who hoped for an end to their own poverty and downtrodden status were sadly disappointed. Politics survived, and the status quo was largely maintained by those in power.

"Accordingly, as warp travel became more readily available, many minor nations, peoples, and governments formed huge consortiums, aiming to move their people away from Earth en masse. These groups intended to stake out new homelands for themselves, as they had no hope of regaining the lands of their ancestors. These groups included primarily Africans, Arabic peoples, and American Indians.

"Among the Amerindian groups of North America, the Navajo nation was especially successful in their movement off world. The Navajo have always been a resourceful and adaptable people, and they quickly secured the investments and material needed to finance a mass migration. Scouting what they would name the Lowe system, they found two class M worlds, Lowe II and Lowe III, and settled the nation there, alongside tribal groups from throughout the American continents.

"Today The Lowe system stands as a testament to the rugged and resourceful nature of the Navajo. Handmade goods from Lowe continue to fetch high prices among collectors and tourists, and the old ways of life have merged with new technologies to create a culture unique."

<FROM the forward of the nations, a navajo nation school text>

Benjamin Talltree was born on Lowe III, a world comprised of large rocky deserts and scrub forests. As this world is much like the old homeland of his people its population is higher, and its technological base less advanced than Lowe II, which serves as the tourism and trade hub of the system. Game is still hunted. The traditional hogans of the Navajo are still constructed out of naturally grown materials. Navajo cosmology has been modified slightly to account for the move to a new homeland, and much of the old mysticism is still practiced.

Talltree himself was selected in his youth to study with his community's medicine-man, and was raised within a distinctly theological framework. He left Lowe III briefly to attend school on Lowe II, and while there was recruited heavily by the local Starfleet officers. He returned to Lowe III after his schooling was completed, and applied for the Starfleet medical branch with his mentor's blessing.

His residency was completed aboard the USS Fairchild, a hospital ship. The Fairchild served in several epidemic zones, and her crew performed commendably in handling these medical emergencies. After four years on the Fairchild, Talltree received his full medical commission to lieutenant, junior grade, and was transferred to the USS Matthew, serving as a medical attaché to numerous colonization parties and terraforming crews. He was offered promotion to full lieutenant at the end of his four-year term on the Matthew, but turned it down. He cited his tribal beliefs, claiming that he was a healer first, and rank was meaningless to him.

In one of the odd ironies of any bureaucracy the size of Starfleet, Talltree was transferred off the Matthew to Deep Space Two, where he would languish for the next six years. In spite of his performance record, he was relegated to menial medical duties at this time, serving more as an orderly than as a doctor. His stay was completely uneventful, and he used the time to study heavily. In the periodic skill examinations all Starfleet officers are subjected to, he routinely scored equal to or above the base's resident medical officers, and twice scored above Deep Space Two's own chief of medicine.

It was these performance evaluations that led to his transfer off the base and back on board a line ship, this time the USS Maryland. Captain Masina retired at the end of Talltree's third year aboard the Maryland, and the new captain arrived with new orders, setting course for the Gamma Quadrant. The year was 2370.

The Maryland's voyage into the Gamma Quadrant would become the greatest adventure of Talltree's life. In an encounter with a Dominion patrol ship near one of that empire's borders, the Maryland was shot down over an unsurveyed world, the bridge smashed, decks vented to space, and the entire senior staff killed. The survivors quickly abandoned the wreck, and attempted to hide from the reinforcements and hunter-killers they were certain would follow.

The hunters never came, and the survivors quickly discovered why. The planet on which they had landed was exceptionally hostile. The flora and fauna had evolved into a very peculiar, very violent ecosystem. Clearly, the Jem'Hadar were quite willing to let the planet finish their job, and many of the Marylanders were killed before they learned to take some basic precautions.

Talltree went native, and took the survivors with him. His upbringing on a less technologically advanced world, and his training in archaic methods of medicine, saved a number of lives. Under his care, and the guidance of Ensign Byron Klipper, an engineer, the Marylanders attempted to find a decent place to set up a settlement and live out their days.

Unfortunately, in their searching they found the only other inhabitants of the planet. They were captured by the guards of a small smuggling compound, extracting ore for sale to the highest bidder. The camp was a hellhole, populated with prisoners and slaves. Though overseen by a single cruel taskmaster and guarded by only a half-dozen burly raiders (since the rest of the planet was so forbidding, escape was generally considered a silly idea, and no one ever left the camp), the Marylanders were too weakened by this point to put up much of a fight.

For nearly nine years they worked, their primary struggle simply survival, and escape a concept nearly forgotten. As the years went on, however, they began to notice that the ore shuttles came less and less frequently, and were manned more and more lightly. Hope glimmered, and they began to plan in earnest.

Finally, the twelve surviving Marylanders stowed away on an ore shuttle, and hijacked the cargo vessel it belonged to. The former Chief of Science aboard Maryland, Lieutenant Commander Richard Carr, assumed command, and the crew of the newly christened SS Ray of Hope charted a course for the wormhole.

Unfortunately, a lone cargo vessel traveling away from standard trade routes was an unlikely ticket home. The Ray of Hope spent the next year and a half running from one pirate band after another, selling off their cargo of ore, and always trying to repair their battered old ship just enough to get to the next system.

In September of 2379, they were set upon by yet another group of raiders. The Ray of Hope was disabled, and things looked bleak when another vessel intervened, transporting the five remaining survivors off just before the ship fell apart for good. When their rescuers identified themselves as the crew of the USS Sulu, an exploration vessel from the long-lost Federation, the news was met with tears of joy by the survivors.

Once aboard, the value of people who were at least partially familiar with the quadrant could not be ignored. The surviving five Marylanders were absorbed into the crew of their rescuers. Old commissions were reinstated, old positions restored, and old habits remembered. Talltree found himself back in a state-of-the-art medical facility after nearly ten years, and has gone about settling in.

Personally, Talltree is very pacifistic in his nature and outlook, a peacemaker as well as a healer. He takes his vows to protect life very seriously, and this has prevented him from acting with violence on several occasions where it was perhaps warranted. Meticulous and perceptive, Talltree misses very little about his surroundings, and this ability has served him well. He is looking forward to his new post in spite of himself.