USS Minoru

---

Physical Description

Ash is just above average height and while fit has a fairly slim build. He has blue eyes and sandy brown hair. He's been told that he still has a boyish smile, although he would never dream of boasting about how he looks.

---

Personality

Ash has a strong sense of duty and loyalty, which is one reason that he chose to remain in Starfleet. While he will always take time to help people who are genuinely struggling or willing to learn something new, he doesn't have any patience for people who are lazy or claim to be more intelligent or skilled than they really are. He also dislikes self-proclaimed miracle workers, thinking they tend to write checks that someday they won't be able to cash. He generally tries to approach problems in an analytical manner and when planning he always attempts to consider contingency plans in case the unexpected happens. His experience in combat taught him that sometimes there isn’t time to figure out the best solution to a problem, but in situations where a snap decision isn’t needed, he still has a tendency to overthink things and hesitate in the hopes of finding more information or a better solution.

---

Background

Ashton Griffith was the oldest of three children born to Michael and Ellen Griffith, two Starfleet officers. His family had a long tradition of going into the service stretching back past the Romulan War, and so the main question was whether he would take after his father and go into science or his mother and become an engineer. (Security, his grandfather's trade, was a distant third.) He spent much of his childhood bouncing between the family homestead in North Carolina and various starbases. In 2262, he was accepted into Starfleet Academy. While his general performance was not especially outstanding, he did well enough in his specialization to squeak in to the top tenth of his class. His training cruise captain thought he had leadership potential and recommended taking the command school course designed to prepare non-command-track officers for bridge duty and command in the absence of the ship's CO or XO. Ash was unsure that he would ever want such a position, but he decided that it was best to keep his options open. He was technically proficient as a commander, but in the words of his advisor, needed to learn to trust his instincts in a crisis and stop second-guessing himself.

Griffith's first assignment was the USS Aberdeen, a Coventry-class frigate that was primarily assigned to the Klingon border. During this assignment he briefly saw action during the aborted Klingon-Federation War of 2267. The ship was involved in several minor skermishes as the two sides probed each others defenses. His next ship was the USS Khodorampur, an aging Kiaga-class Perimeter Action Ship. The ship was almost thirty years old by that point and the entire class was being phased out in favor of the new Akyazi-class PAS. It was an interesting learning experience, if nothing else, as he was forced to make due with outdated equipment and the small crew meant he was in a position of greater responsibility than he would have been in on a larger ship. That assignment was cut short by the Kzinti Incursion of 2272. Khodorampur was caught in the thick of the initial assault and, as the class was designed, was essentially there as a speedbump to slow the invaders down so Starfleet could rally and respond. The ship took heavy damage and was abandoned, and Ashton and the rest of the surviving crew spent several weeks dodging Kzinti troops on one of the border colonies. During this time Ashton was the senior officer on his evacuation shuttle and he was forced to put his command training to the test in a situation where he couldn’t rely on his technical knowledge. He managed to keep all but two of his men alive despite several firefights with enemy patrols and afterward was decorated for valor. The experience was a turning point for him, because it showed him first-hand that he could handle being responsible for the lives of others, and he resolved that one day he would have an independent command of some kind.

His next assignment was the USS Mariner as the assistant chief engineer. He was thrilled with the position as Constitution-class ships on exploratory missions were very prestigious. It was just his bad luck that the ship was trapped by a singularity shortly into its first mission. When it emerged, more than a hundred years had passed. His closest living relative was his brother's youngest daughter, Sara, who herself was already a grandmother. His extended family welcomed him home and their acceptance and help was one of the major factors in his successful adjustment to life in the new time period, although he still finds that he is often awkward and out of place. After several months of mandatory leave and counseling, he threw himself into a Starfleet career extension program. Work gave him something to focus on other than the personal losses he had experienced because of the time displacement. He passed his engineering courses with flying colors and also renewed his bridge officer credentials, knowing first-hand that even an engineering officer could be called upon to lead in an emergency. After the course, Ash returned to Mariner as chief engineer and took charge of her refit to modern standards. However, the ship was recalled only days after leaving spacedock on her first mission, and soon much of the crew was reassigned, including Ash. He thought that he would be transferred to be chief engineer of another ship, and was surprised when he was offered command of a starship. He wasn’t entirely sure that he was up for the job yet, but he knew there was no way he could pass up an opportunity like that.

---

Service Record

• 2262 - Cadet - Starfleet Academy -
• 2265 - Training Cruise, USS Yamada NCC-1662 (Loknar-class)
• 2266 - Ensign - Engineer, USS Aberdeen NCC-1245 (Coventry-class)
• 2267 - Lieutenant (j.g.) - Transporter Engineer, USS Aberdeen NCC-1245 (Coventry-class)
• 2269 - Lieutenant - Asst Chief Engineer, USS Khodorampur (Kiaga-class)
• 2272 - Lieutenant - Asst Chief Engineer, USS Mariner NCC-1829 (Constitution (Refit)-class)
• 2272 - Listed Missing in Action
• 2384 - Returned to Service
• 2384 - Lieutenant Commander - Career Extension Program, Starfleet Academy
• 2385 - Lieutenant Commander - Chief Engineer USS Mariner NCC-1829 (Constitution-class)
• 2386 - Commander - Commanding Officer, USS Minoru NCC-64306 (Akira-class)