Leighton Mortcombe
Captain Mortcombe is Starbase 72's executive officer, a position that gives him control over most of the station's daily operations, ranging from personnel assignments to setting duty shifts to overseeing operational readiness. Mortcombe spent almost twenty-five years as a starship commander but accepted the assignment on Starbase 72 to be able to give his three children a stable environment to grow up in. He is precise, meticulous, and no-nonsense. If you meet him, you better have a very good reason for disrupting his busy schedule, because anything that causes him to be late on his way home to dinner is likely to earn a scathing rebuke.
History
Early Life (2338-2356)
Leighton Mortcombe was born in the Caldos colony in 2338. As one of Earth’s first terraforming experiments, the planet was full of mature-growth forests by Mortcombe’s childhood, and so he grew up with a profound respect for the natural world. Shy and quiet, Mortcombe spent many afternoons reading out in the forest, and by the time he entered primary school he’d already devoured a large amount of literature. The more he read, though, the more he realized that his colony was just a facsimile of the ‘real’ world, and it made him want to go places he could see actual nature.
Starfleet Academy and Early Career (2356-2370)
Though the Mortcombe family was never associated with Starfleet, and, indeed, had been among the original colonists, they were accepting when Leighton decided to apply to Starfleet Academy. Once there, aptitude tests revealed that he’d be most at home in either science or engineering, thanks to the reasoning skills he developed from spending so much of his early life reading. Mortcombe decided to specialize in Astrophysics, but the more he learned at the Academy, the more he realized that Operations was where he wanted to start his career: the challenge of managing a whole ship’s resources plus his natural inclination towards organization and precision made him well-suited to that role, so he took on additional training in bridge operations.
Following graduation, Mortcombe was posted to the USS Cardinal as the night shift Operations Officer. This Nebula-class ship was a prestigious posting, and Mortcombe was commended multiple times for efficiency. After two years, he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and became the ship’s Chief Operations Officer, a role that he would hold for a total of six years, earning another promotion to Lieutenant in the process.
USS Aldrin (2370-2380)
At age 32, Mortcombe was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and joined the newly-launched USS Aldrin, a Saber-class frigate, as its executive officer. This markedly smaller starship took a lot of getting used to, compared to the heavy cruiser he’d spent his early career on, but command suited him. He was able to take the lessons he’d learned as an operations officer to shape the Aldrin‘s crew into a well-oiled machine on their patrol missions along the Romulan Neutral Zone. After only three years, the Dominion War broke out, and the ship’s captain was tapped to take command of a larger, more important starship, and so Mortcombe was promoted to Commander and became the master of the Aldrin.
The Aldrin participated in many of the major battles of the Dominion War, using her speed to screen larger ships and take out Cardassian fighters that wandered too close. It was not the sort of assignment that Mortcombe was prepared for; he’d spent little time learning strategy or all but the basics of ship-to-ship combat, but like many officers in his generation, he was forced into a baptism by fire. He was helped by having a modern, well-equipped starship that could shrug off many hits, but many of his classmates died on the bridges of their Miranda-class ships. Mortcombe was cited for valor twice, and his ship consistently received the highest ratings for efficiency during the war.
Following the war, Mortcombe was promoted to Captain, and continued to command the Aldrin, which was part of the fleet assigned to ensure the swift and orderly withdrawal of the Cardassian Military from the Former Demilitarized Zone. Though only a frigate, the Aldrin also assisted with the logistical details of such a transfer of power, which positioned Mortcombe for his next command.
USS Belmopan (2380-2390)
Mortcombe was asked to take command of the new Parliament-class USS Belmopan in 2380, which was assigned to large-scale engineering and logistics projects under the auspices of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. The Belmopan itself was initially sent to build infrastructure on colonies in the former DMZ, but 2381, she was reassigned to set up facilities for refugees on a number of worlds on the Federation side of the Romulan Neutral Zone to take in Romulans who would be displaced by the impending destruction of the Romulan sun. Mortcombe applied his career-long grasp of organization and logistics to plan his ship’s operations meticulously, completing nearly every assignment ahead of schedule and with fewer resources used than predicted.
Even after the destruction of Utopia Planitia halted the evacuation efforts in 2385, the Belmopan continued to support refugee colonies for several years, until it was diverted to projects in the interior of the Federation in 2387 when it was feared that she would be vulnerable to any rogue Romulan attacks following the destruction of their star. During this time, Mortcombe spent a lot of time with his Chief Engineering Officer, Commander Melissa Vane, who had been a year behind him at the academy. Despite being in their 50’s, neither of them had ever had much to show from romance, as they had been so focused on their careers, but they found chemistry with one another that they hadn’t found in others. The relationship turned romantic, and the two of them were married in 2389. Their first child, Tyler, was born later that year.
USS Hathaway (2390-2396)
Mortcombe accepted command of the Nebula-class heavy cruiser Hathaway in 2390. The larger ship provided a better environment for raising a family, and he and his wife had two more children in 2391 (Jackson) and 2393 (Madison). The ship itself was assigned to charting missions in the deep Beta Quadrant, though, beyond Romulan space, and both Mortcombe and Vane felt that their young family would benefit from being somewhere safer. After six years commanding the Hathaway, Mortcombe had been commanding starships for nearly twenty-five years and he considered retirement, but neither he nor his wife could imagine life as civilians.
Starbase 72 (2396-Present)
In 2396, Mortcombe accepted the role of Executive Officer aboard Starbase 72, which was a compromise between finding a stable environment for his family while not giving up the work that he loved. Vane took over as Chief of Shipyard Operations at Starbase 72, which allowed them to stay together. Though he had workaholic tendencies early in his career, Captain Mortcombe now prioritizes getting work done while on duty and then leaving it behind when he comes home to his family.
Service Record
| Date | Position | Posting | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2356-2357 | Astrophysics Cadet | Starfleet Academy | Cadet Fourth Class |
| 2357-2358 | Astrophysics Cadet | Starfleet Academy | Cadet Third Class |
| 2358-2359 | Astrophysics & Engineering Cadet | Starfleet Academy | Cadet Second Class |
| 2359-2360 | Astrophysics & Engineering Cadet | Starfleet Academy | Cadet First Class |
| 2360-2362 | Gamma Shift Operations Manager | USS Cardinal | Ensign |
| 2362-2364 | Chief Operations Officer | USS Cardinal | Lieutenant Junior Grade |
| 2364-2370 | Chief Operations Officer & Second Officer | USS Cardinal | Lieutenant |
| 2370-2373 | Executive Officer | USS Aldrin | Lieutenant Commander |
| 2373-2375 | Commanding Officer | USS Aldrin | Commander |
| 2375-2380 | Commanding Officer | USS Aldrin | Captain |
| 2380-2390 | Commanding Officer | USS Belmopan | Captain |
| 2390-2396 | Commanding Officer | USS Hathaway | Captain |
| 2396-Present | Executive Officer | Starbase 72 | Captain |
Captain Mortcombe In-Play
- As a Task Force 72 NPC, you are free to use Captain Mortcombe in your own fiction writing or if your game (RPG) visits Starbase 72 during a mission. The information here is meant as a guide for folks to use this character consistently across different stories, but feel free to take some liberties with his exact characterization. His rank, position, gender, species, and other mundane details shouldn’t be changed, though. Also, don’t kill him; that wouldn’t be nice.
- While Captain Mortcombe has artwork from his children proudly displayed behind his desk on Starbase 72, don’t confuse that with a willingness to tolerate nonsense or frivolity. He is very by-the-book and efficient because he prioritizes accomplishing his daily agenda effectively so he can get home to his family. He gave up a promising career as a starship captain to spend time with them, so he’s not going to let someone else’s incompetence or hesitation get in his way of enjoying time with them.
- Mortcombe is direct, but not cruel. He will correct subordinates when they need it, but doesn’t go out of his way to be critical. Interactions with him are often cordial but brief.
- Not a people person, Mortcombe is unlikely to be seen out of Station Operations or his quarters, unless he’s taking his children to one of the station’s many recreational facilities. He does not like being bothered while out with his family.
- As XO, Mortcombe handles most of the day-to-day paperwork aboard the station for the CO, and so he’s also likely to handle many new crew arrivals and most comm traffic with visiting starships. Don’t expect a lot of small talk if you’re dealing with him. You might use this character rather than the commodore if you’d rather breeze past most of the introductions and get straight to the meat of your story, or if you’d like your character to be faced with a senior officer’s annoyance–as that can sometimes be fun to write.
- With two-and-a-half decades of experience as a captain, Mortcombe is very experienced in operational procedures, but he’s not particularly keen to share his wisdom with young, green officers unless doing so is directly part of giving them a mission or explaining something he’d like done. You’re not likely to find him holding court in the officer’s lounge and regaling the crowd with tails of his exploits.
- Captain Mortcombe is 1.7 meters tall (so, somewhere between short and average), Caucasian, and bald.