Rodrigo Saravia

Authored by Brian Richards

Biographic Information

• Position: Executive Officer on USS Wolverine
• Rank: Commander
• Species: Human, 60% cybernetic
• Weight: 102.05 kg (225 lbs)
• Height: 175.3 cm (5 ft 9 in)
• Age: 51

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Character Biography

(5/7/10)

Born in Galicia on August 3rd, 2349, Rodrigo, or Rigo, grew up like most kids of the era in a post-sacristy eutopia without want for much and parents who loved and supported him. They were an unremarkable family; his mother was a botanist, and his father was a functionary in the local government. They lived on a quiet street in a quiet neighborhood and when Rigo wanted to volunteer for the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, it was at a period of prolonged peace and prosperity for the member planets. Having always been good for with tools and building things, Rodrigo didn’t want the stuffy existence of a commissioned officer onboard a starship following orders and charting star systems, he wanted to be boots on the ground building and maintaining the backbone of the Federation.

At the ripe young age of 21, Rodrigo was a few years into his new life with the SCE, posted to Bajor on behalf of the provisional government to work on rebuilding the agriculture sector when the cold war started. The destruction of the USS Odyssey in 2370 sent shockwaves and rumors amok during the period, especially during the personnel stationed so close to the wormhole. He wasn’t anyone important then, but he went to his commander with concerns for the future and asked to participate in training as a Combat Engineer, should the need arise. He was transferred to a training division and worked his way up the ranks till the outbreak of the Dominion War where he was assigned to work in conjunction with the ground troops to set fortifications and planetary weaponry systems in place. He displayed exemplary capability and fortitude in the face of the enemy and was quickly the one requested by the ground commanders leading to his promotion through the ranks to Petty Officer, 1st Class.

Then it all happened in a flash.

Rodrigo was working on setting up a shield array when the bombers struck. His position had been guaranteed, by his superiors that is, to be hidden from the enemy but somehow the Jem’Hadar knew exactly where the array was being installed. His body was torn to shreds, major organ damage and loss of extremities resulted in an almost guaranteed death sentence. As his vision faded Rodrigo thought his life was over. However not all was lost.

Starfleet Ground Forces had named him a person of priority to the war effort given his distinguished service and knack for keeping the lights on with the 24th century equivalent of duct tape and baling wire. He was one of thousands of names on that list, and thanks to advancements in medical technology, and a good dose of luck with where the medical personnel were during the bombings, he was put into medical stasis where he was to be augmented, grafted, and saved, and yet forever changed.

Starfleet had been studying Borg nanite technology ever since the first encounter in 2365 and their talent with the grafting of machine to organic. The Federation knew they needed to win the war, and they knew they couldn’t let good men die; thus, a plan was born. Through the Starfleet Hyper Invasive Technology program, where home grown Starfleet developed implants and nanites were created and grafted onto the war wounded. Not many survived, and those that did had drastic complications, but they were alive. Rodrigo was one of the lucky few that survived. He was sent back out near the end of the war in 2375, performing admirably as had become expected, which resulted in commendations and a promotion to Chief Petty Officer.

After the war Rodrigo made it a point to attend Starfleet Academy and transition away from SCE and to use his talents and leadership onboard a starship. He was far less likely to be blown up again that way, or so he thought. He made that decision 24 years ago, and since then of the remaining 13 patients, 9 have suffered a 100% rejection of their implants and have died while the remaining 4, Rodrigo among them, have been dealing with failing equipment and a series of severe complications. It was after a few posts and a few promotions that he transferred to the USS Ogawa to both serve and an Engineer, and to be a patient. While Rodrigo’s body was actively rejecting the implants they are still somewhat functional and he is on a healthy dose of immunosuppressives and daily monitoring of neural link activity to ensure proper ability by him as a member of the crew.

While most of the cybernetic augmentation is covered by a uniform, there are a few areas that will draw attention, his head most of all but also his left arm and right hand. As he was turned slightly so his left arm exposed to the blast and severely damaged resulting in its full replacement below the elbow along with implants all the way up including the shoulder, the right hand has three fingers and some circuitry all visible to the naked eye. Other replacements include his left hip and entire left leg as well as his right foot. There is a ridged framework around his neck with supports down through his shoulders and his throat where his voice box was blown out and replaced. This framing also has ventilation for his breathing, so he doesn’t intake air through his nose or mouth, it’s an automated system that is designed to keep his blood oxygen levels at a perfect ratio with his augmented lungs. He has exterior plates on his torso wrapping around his stomach and under his left arm. On his back, there is a protrusion that raises above his shoulder level that has two stout tubes plugged in that supply power through a rather ingenious bio-neural gel system that also provides supplementary data processing. The relays in his head are used to buffer data between his brain and the neural link controlled by the system, and should those relays fail, the bio-neural system has enough buffer time to give him 5 minutes of processing before the neural link shuts down the implants to preserve the brain of the patient, however in a case like Rodrigo’s this is a death sentence. He uses a charging station similar to a Borg regeneration alcove however it is far more compact and does involve physical docking with the station to provide the charging for his bio-neural system. It works on a similar process but plugs directly into his back and can re-charge him in a matter of 5 hours as opposed to the usual 3 for a regeneration alcove. Rodrigo has found that while the original design specification should allow up to 72 hours before needing to recharge, he is lucky if he can 30 hours before needing to dock.

The implants augment his capabilities in various ways, for example his ocular replacement operates similar to a VISOR’s variable input across the electromagnetic spectrum that can be superimposed across his vision to supplement his regular sight. The cybernetic left hand is equipped with various tools that would be included in a standard repair kit, however heavy use drains his systems faster than he’d like. Rodrigo was not equipped with any weaponry or shielding, as Starfleet at the time did not want to permanently augment their troops with implanted weaponry, opting for handheld solutions instead.