Alex is 36, 5'9" 165lbs with blue-grey eyes and black hair.
He has two small scars about 1/2" long on each temple, one above the other, with
no other distinguishing marks. He is somewhat better than average looking, or as
his daughter Katelyn describes him to perspective suitors, he is easy on the
eyes. His two scars only marginally detract from his appearance. He is more
cute, than handsome.

There is just a touch of grey in his hair around his ears.

He is usually clean-shaven but sometimes has a moustache or goatee. Only rarely
does he have a full beard however, because it is almost impossible for him to
grow one. His hair is worn longish, over the collar of his shirt. It is normally
wavy, but when wet or in high humidity it gets down right curly.

He prefers to be out of uniform whenever possible, though he will usually wear
his pips and comm badge unless he's off duty. He prefers khakis and polo shirts.

He is left handed in everything but writing.

General Overview
He has a strong sense of justice and sticking up for the little guy that has been
wronged. He is naturally inquisitive and intuitive and would rather negotiate his
way out of a situation whenever possilbe. If push comes to shove he can, and has
handled himself in a fight, though he is far more competent with his martial
arts ability than with a phaser.

Strengths & Weaknesses
Due to the experiments that were perfromed on him while he was in captivity
(which resulted in the twin scars on each temple)he has become partially empathic. He can usually detrmine whether somone is lying or not. He can sometimes pick up on another's emotions especially if they are stong ones such as anger or hatred or lust.

He has always been intituive and has always cared about others around him. He
prefers to talk his way out of a situation, but he will take physical action if
need be. He is not afraid to be confrontational when circumstances demand it

He is an excellent martial artist and has a gift for lanugages.

Weaknesses: He can be intorverted at times. He doesn't realize he is still
trying to please his father, he has recurring nightmares as a result of his
captivity, though no one other than his daughter Katey knows about that, His
love for her can cause him to be overprotective of her and put her needs above
other people.

Ambitions
Right now he is simply concentrating on being the best father to his daughter and the best XO that he can be. He is torn between pursuing a command of his own, or going back into undercover work again. Someday, he would like to teach at the Academy where he can help train young minds. He was surprised that he has been given the XO position but believes that his training in Intelligence and Counselling will help him in his new assignement.

Hobbies & Interests
He has a second degree black belt in Aikido. He chose Aikido when he was in high school as his martial art of choice, because he liked the philsophy of using an opponents strength against them. It is a philsophy that he has put to work outside Aikido when he can.

He loves the theater and is musically inclined. He plays the piano and keyboard and is a pretty decent tenor. He also does fairly accurate impressions of people.
He enjoys reading and has a collection of books, mainly suspence thrillers from the 21st and 22nd centuries.

He also likes spending time in the holodeck acting out some of those novels

He has a collection of entertainment vids dating back to the 21st century

He is pretty talented in sleight of hand magic tricks too.

Languages Standard, Romulan, Cardassian, Klingon fluently. Vulcan and Bajoran passably

Family
Father Alex Joseph Richards II born August 28, 2315
Mother Carie Raiana Marucs Rivers born October 2, 2313
Brother(s) Thomas Jefferson Rivers born Jan 1, 2351
Sister(s) Rachel Diane Rivers McClenahan, born April 5, 2346 Sarah Jane Rivers born June 11,2350
Spouse Katleen Arno Rivers born March 19, 2350 (deeased)
Children Katelyn Ann(Katey)Taylor born August 28, 2370
Other Family

History
His father is Alex Joseph Richards I his mother Carina Raiana Marcus Rivers, he
has a twin brother Thomas Jefferson River, who was born 8 minutes after Alex.
Alex has two sister Rachel who is two years older and Sarah who is two years
younger.He was married to Kathleen Arno Rivers, who was killed in 2378 when Alex
was captured. He has no other realtives.

Alex or as most people call him A. J. was born to Alex Joseph Rivers I and
Carrie Arno on Jan 1, 2351 in San Francisco. Mr. Rivers senior entered Star
Fleet as an enlisted man and worked his way up to Lt. Commander, but that was as
high as he could go. Carrie was the faithful and tradtional wife. After being teased at school because of his name, Thomas soon began using just his initials and then Alex started doing the same thing to support his brother.

But life in the Rivers home was not all that it was supposed to be, the family was most happy when Alex senior was away on assingment. He was dictorial, condecending and an alcoholic. He was oftern verbally abusive and sometimes physically so.

From as early on as Alex can remember he had an interest in the theater and music. He was quite good at and could have turned professional had the had more training, but Mr. Rivers senior was not especially impressed with his son'achievements and let him know about it loud and clear. Nor did he care for any of Alex's friends.

He wanted his sons to achieve more, even if they weren't interested. He
pressured AJ into joining the Academy. While there he specialized in Security and was misreable for the first couple of years of his career(Though home life was good he and his
brother had each married their childhood sweet heart in a double ceremony on November 17, 2372 and within a year, Alex and his wife Kathleen had a baby daugher who they named
Katelyn Ann-she goes by Katery.

After two years of working Security and being misreable he was recruited by a
Star Fleet Intelligence officer. who saw him in a drama he had played in on the
Magistate where he was seving at the time. Alex worked undercover for six
years in a wide variety of roles.
In 2378 he was captured by a band of Klingon disidents and he remained there for two years before he managed to escape. His wife was killed by the same turn coat also in 2378 and Katey
went to live with her uncle TJ.

When he escaped he had total amnesia, he didn't know who he was. It took six months for him to regain his memory back (though there are still parts of his ordeal that he doesn't remember), through a lot of counseling and the help and prayers of his daughter.

He wanted to remain in Star Fleet, but those in authoirty thought he should no
longer be in Intelligence or Security, so he went back to school, the University of
San Francisco to be exact, where he earned a PhD in Pyschology. While working on his Dissertation, he spent a year at the Academy where he took advanced courses in Hostile Alien Negoiations.

He saw the Counseling position as a combination of helping the officers and crew
deal with all the trauma they encounter, to advise the Captain as called on and to help the Captain and command staff deal with new lives and new civlizations, firendly,neutral, or hostile. races. His ability to read thougts and emotions is very helpfu in both those areas and in his new XO position.

Katey lives with him and is planning on going to the Academy in the fall. She is a very bright kid especially in mathematics and engineering(areas that Alex is not especially strong in) and like him is a gifted linguist. She sometimes slacks in classes like History that she finds boring.

She loves to play the flute and violin.

And she also tries to play matchmaker for her father even though he doesn't really want her to do so. They have had a number of argumetns about homework and matchmaking in the past.