Ison Bale

Commodore Ison Bale is the current Commandant of the Fourth Fleet Academy (aka Starfleet Academy--Mellstoxx III). Bale has had a long and successful career as an engineer and starship captain, and has been at the Fourth Fleet Academy since 2389. Widely respected for his intellect and the care he has for his charges, he is considered to be a fair and even-handed disciplinarian and has the highest possible academic standards for the academy that is tasked with training the future officers and captains of the Fourth Fleet.

Early Life (2329-2347)

Ison Bale was the second son of a prominent Betazoid family, the scions of which had been diplomats, politicians, and academics for centuries. He was born in a time of peace and prosperity for the Federation, in the calm following the Khitomer Accords in the 2290s and the Treaty of Algernon in the 2310s before the Federation-Cardassian War. Like his older brother, he was expected to follow the family tradition and become a respected counselor of state, but he had a reflexive urge to do the exact opposite of what was asked of him in that regard. He found mathematics, science, and engineering to be much more interesting, but the relentless talking, debating, and arguing that went into diplomacy to be a waste of time. This caused not a small amount of friction between him and his family, but once he was into his teen years he was dead set on attending Starfleet Academy rather than a university on Betazed. The compromise was that he would request a posting at a campus with Betazoid affiliation.

Academy & Early Career (2347-2360)

Bale was admitted to Starfleet Academy in 2347, and fulfilling his promise to his parents, he requested to study at the Mellstoxx III campus, which was located on the grounds of Starbase 4 on a Betazoid colony. Despite rumors and innuendo of the academic rigor being lacking, the engineering program there was one of the best in the fleet, and so Bale decided to study Warp Field Mechanics. This was a field that many Betazoids avoided because their natural advantage in dealing with other organic beings was completely nullified there, but Bale relished that challenge.

Though many Betazoids studied and taught at that campus, the transition to Starfleet was more difficult than Bale had imagined, as his family name carried with it none of the cachet it would have in a more traditional educational setting. The physical training requirements were intense, and it took him several semesters to feel like he fully got what it meant to be a Starfleet cadet, as his youthful rebellion alone was insufficient to give him the discipline needed to succeed in that regard.

By the time Bale was in his last year, however, he was well-respected by his peers and instructors alike. While he didn't have the makings of a bridge officer in him yet, he was well on track to being a valuable member of an engineering team. Upon graduation in 2351 as an Ensign, Bale was assigned to the Constellation-class starship Stargazer under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, where he served as one of the Warp Systems Engineers. The ship was old and under-powered, but proved to be a great challenge for a budding engineer to maintain; the unusual four-nacelle design required a lot of observation and maintenance to avoid ripping the ship apart. During the Federation-Cardassian War, Bale was injured during a skirmish where the Cardassians fired on an unshielded Stargazer, but acquitted himself well under fire. In 2353, he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade, and was aboard the ship during the legendary (in some circles) Battle of Maxia where Captain Picard first used the vaunted Picard Maneuver against what was later found to be a Ferengi vessel.

After evacuating the Stargazer along with the rest of the crew, Bale was adrift for weeks in a shuttle before rescue. Because of his performance on the Stargazer (and following the inquiry into the ship's destruction), Bale was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned as Assistant Chief Engineering Officer aboard the brand-new USS Normandy, one of the last Cheyenne-class starships off of the assembly lines. Like the Stargazer, the Normandy was underpowered and difficult to maintain because of its engine configuration, but Bale had by then become an expert in managing such a system. Because of that, he served for five years there, developing several improvements to the engine control software that were deployed to the rest of that limited-production class of ship.

USS Leyte Gulf (2360-2375)

In 2360, Bale was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and took over the engine room aboard the Excelsior-class starship USS Leyte Gulf. Though older than the Normandy, it was a much larger and much more prestigious assignment with much more powerful engines to deal with. As a department head, he found himself constantly dealing with personnel issues, something that his telepathy made easier, as in his experience most engineers were not great at communicating what they wanted and needed. He earned a commendation for efficiency during his time on the Leyte Gulf and was eventually selected by his captain to replace the Executive Officer after just four years in the engine room.

Though he'd imagined spending his entire career as an engineer, command was a new challenge for Bale. Admittedly, it's a role he found himself well-suited to, as he could balance technical acumen with an understanding of how people thought and what they needed. Several times, his abilities allowed him to give his captain a leg-up in negotiations, but where he excelled was optimizing crew assignments for cohesiveness. After four more years as a Lieutenant Commander he was promoted to Commander, and remained aboard the Leyte Gulf.

When the Dominion War broke out, the Leyte Gulf was assigned to the First Fleet to defend the Sol system, and participated in the Battle of Sector 001 against the Borg. As one of the first ships to engage the cube at the edge of the system, the Leyte Gulf was quickly disabled and left for dead as the Borg remained on a direct heading for Earth. The majority of the crew managed to evacuate before the warp core went critical, leaving them to watch in horror as the cube got closer to the heart of the Federation, until Bale's former captain, Jean-Luc Picard, was able to destroy it.

An Akira-class heavy cruiser in the final stages of construction at Utopia Planitia was renamed Leyte Gulf, and the surviving crew of the Excelsior-class iteration of the ship was assigned to it in the weeks following the battle. Though still shaken from their experience, there was no time to rest as the Dominion were pressing on the Federation's borders. This modern, combat-capable vessel participated in the majority of the major engagements during the war, surviving where older ships could not because of its hardened systems.

Command School (2375 - 2377)

Though Bale had developed significant command and combat experience during his time aboard the two starships Leyte Gulf, he desired to further refine his theoretical knowledge of command, and so he enrolled in the Fourth Fleet Command Academy following the treaty of Bajor in 2375. Going back to his academy days was a little bit of a culture shock after having been in the field for close to twenty-five years, but he was able to study advanced techniques in detail, to formalize what he'd learned hands-on into a more cohesive knowledge base.

While in command school himself, he was also assigned as the Executive Officer of Cadet Squadron Bravo, leading cadets through drills and discipline-building exercises while not studying for his own program. This was his first taste of teaching, and he found it to be quite enjoyable, even if his near-term ambition was command.

As Acting Captain of the training ship Exeter, Bale received some of the highest-ever scores on the two training voyages he was assigned to lead, which was largely thanks to his extensive real-world experience. Though it was likely he could have gone on to command a ship directly after the war, his performance throughout Command School secured him a promotion to captain and command of the newly-launched Galaxy-class starship Ulysses.

USS Ulysses (2377-2389)

Bale's move into the center seat came right about at his 30-year anniversary of enrolling in Starfleet Academy. Much of his career had been spent in conflict zones, so he was eager to take command of an explorer like the Ulysses which was sent on a ten-year odyssey of its own deep into the Alpha Quadrant, even as many of the fleet's assets were focused on rebuilding the Federation and her neighbors. Missions like Bale's were considered a symbol of the Federation's commitment to peaceful exploration, even in the aftermath of war.

The Ulysses had been intended to join the Dominion War without most of its scientific systems installed, but it was still incomplete by the end of the war, and so was fitted out beyond the original specifications before its launch in 2377. Under Bale's command, the ship was able to demonstrate the full potential the class had for independent, unsupported exploratory endeavors in a way that none of her sisters had ever been allowed to, with conflict constantly pulling ships like the Enterprise and Venture away from their intended missions.

Bale participated in several dozen first contact missions, and the Ulysses was considered a choice assignment under his command. As of the 2390s, Starfleet Science still has a backlog of data to go through from her missions beyond Breen space, and colonial surveys started during that initial expedition are just now bearing fruit. Luckily, the Ulysses was not pulled from her mission when the Romulan Evacuation began, nor was she recalled after the destruction of Mars in 2385, but following the natural end of her ten-year mission in 2387, the ship was recalled to Earth.

Ten years in deep space had given the Ulysses and her crew substantial experience in operating a large ship far from home, but making much-needed repairs and upgrades took nearly two years, as Starfleet went over every centimeter of the ship to make improvements to the new Century and Odyssey-class ships now under production. During this time, Bale remained nominally in command of the ship, but took extended shore leave time back on Betazed. When he found out that the Ulysses would not be returning to deep space but would be serving as a flagship for the Fifth Fleet's defensive mission along the Romulan border, Bale took a long time to consider if that's something he was willing to accept. In the end, it wasn't.

Fourth Fleet Academy (2389 to Present)

Now with forty years of Starfleet service under his belt, Bale knew that it was time to allow a younger generation to have its chance out among the stars. He also knew that a return to defensive duties was not what he wanted for himself. He'd been there and done that, already. He applied instead to work as a professor at Starfleet Academy. The Fourth Fleet's academy jumped at the opportunity to have such an experienced starship captain on staff, and offered him command of Cadet Squadron Bravo, which he already had experience with.

From 2389 to 2393, Bale led Junior and Senior cadets through the final two years of their program, getting to work with eight separate cohorts in that time. Teaching was a natural fit for him as much as it had been ten years prior, and he found it satisfying to balance the students' needs to be challenged and shaped with their need for empathy and understanding. He was immensely popular among his cadets, and the strong relationships he built there went on to forge excellent officers.

In 2393, Bale became Dean of Cadets, overseeing Cadet Squadron Bravo and the Fourth Fleet Academy's other training squadrons, especially in terms of discipline and progress to graduation. Two years later, he was promoted to Commodore and took over as Commandant of the Fourth Fleet Academy, reporting directly to the Chief of Fourth Fleet Operations and overseeing the academy, its command school, and enlisted training programs at Mellstoxx III.

Personal Life

Commodore Bale has been married to Yolonda Bale (a Human female) since 2364, and during their 35-year marriage, they have had four children ranging from age 32 to age 22, three of whom now serve in Starfleet. His youngest child, Marar Bale, graduated from the Diplomatic Institute of Betazed in mid-2399. Except during the Dominion War, his wife and children lived aboard whichever starship he was serving on, and Yolonda has been a professor of literature and culture at the Fourth Fleet Academy since the commodore joined the faculty there in 2389.

Commodore Bale In-Play

• Commodore Bale is a fleet-level NPC that you are allowed to use in your own fiction. Use the history presented here as a way of capturing his characterization, but you're free to use him for any interactions you'd like, as long as you don't kill him off or alter the character!
• Bale joined Starfleet in 2347 and is now 70, meaning that he's old enough to be many tradionally-aged cadets' grandparents. That's the affect he projects as well: empathetic and understanding, but also quite firm when he needs to be. He enjoys working with cadets and getting to know them, but he's also quick to apply disappointment as a disciplinary tool should a cadet end up in his office.
• Bale is not the type of man to stay in his office all day; he enjoys sitting in on classes, walking the campus, and even guest lecturing for introductory courses when he has the time. He wants to get to know the students that pass through his academy.
• Bale is quite proud of the fact that, though a Betazoid, he is an accomplished engineer, something that he considers to be even more of an accomplishment than success in a more person-driven field would be, but he is also quite proud of his heritage and enjoys living in a Betazoid colony.