In the "Age of Heroes" there were also men who just got the job done.

Aristotle Galileo Enfield was one of those men. Born on Mars in its capital city of Helium on April 29, 2228, part of a long line of Martian Enfields going back to 2103. The Enfield clan was part of the Mars revolution, and Aristotle's great grandfather helped to draft the Fundamental Declaration of the Martian Colonies, recognized as one of the greatest instruments of freedom in the known galaxy. This is part of the reason that the Enfield clan for three generations had Mars disdain any help from any earth government, including the United Federation of Planets. Aristotle, at least in his father Amos' eyes, was going to serve the Martian cause quite well.

Aristotle or Ari as he prefers to be called, is a genetically altered human. The Martian government at the time felt that if people could live and work on the surface of the planet Mars, without the constraint of pressure suits, the long and involved process of Terraforming the planet would be accomplished sooner. Asking for married couples wanting children to volunteer, the Martian government found some willing participants. One of those couples was Amos Enfield and his wife Dr. Jennifer Enfield.

Jennifer O'Herlihy was possibly the most gifted student in the fields of quantum mechanics and warp dynamics in her day. Most of the advances in faster than light travel made in the last 100 years can be traced directly back to her. She and Amos Enfield met in college on Mars at the Zefram Cochrane University there. They were married in 2220. Shortly thereafter, Amos was appointed as a clerk to the Martian Supreme Court (if Amos Enfield hadn't been a politician, he could have been one of the Federation's greatest lawyers) and Jennifer was going for her Ph.D.

Amos had pressed Jennifer to go on a leave from the University so they could have a child, but shortly after her dissertation, she won the Z-Magnees and Nobel prizes for her theories on a warp engine design that would allow a ship to break the theoretical limit of warp ten . This was followed up by her design of a structural integrity field generator to handle the engine. She then got a grant from Starfleet to expand on this work. This delayed the Enfields having a child for nearly six years. Needless to say, Amos wasn't happy about his wife's involvement with Starfleet.

Aristotle remembers his mother mentioning that she was none too thrilled at the prospect of the Martian eugenics program. After all, she was a Federation citizen, and Mars was a Federation protectorate. One of the provisions of Mars maintaining their protected status was that citizens of Mars respect Federation laws. After the horror of the Eugenics Wars on earth late in the 20th century, the Federation was wary of any attempt at "improving" Homo sapiens. The eugenics program was kept a secret from the Federation and Jennifer was bound to silence for over 30 years .

Aristotle was brought up in a relatively normal environment after he was released from the bio-facility in Lowell City on Mars. At age 15, he graduated from Zefram Cochrane University with a degree in Astro Physics and Quantum Mechanics. He learned most of what he knew about warp dynamics and system design from his mother. As a result, he was approached by many elite design groups including The Utopia Planetia Corporation, Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems, and of course, Starfleet Academy. His father had discouraged his participation in starship engineering, however. Amos wanted his son to contribute his exceptional talents to the Martian Terraforming Project. This is what he was "designed" for in the first place. Ari was a little mortified at this. After one year of postgraduate work under his mother's tutelage, he decided, on his Uncle Micah's advice, to join the Martian Merchant Marine Service.

This was, needless to say, a bit under Ari's abilities. At the time of his enlistment in the Merchant service, most of the Martian fleet was running on spit and bailing wire. Ari was assigned to the MS Porter, a Deimos Class commercial freighter. His first job was security on the Jupiter Station run. Of course, he contributed his talents to improving the Porter's engines and environmental systems. On his second six month run, he was promoted to Warrant Officer, Second Class and was made Chief of Engineering.

A year in the Merchant Marine was about all Ari could take. He had a yen to go into deep space, essentially as far as away as he could get from Mars. He hopped a long flight to Starfleet Starbase 27 in hopes of enlisting. At the time, a minor did not need consent from their parents to enlist in Starfleet if they were already supporting themselves. Starfleet had several enlisted training facilities and the closest one to the Solar System (except for Starfleet Academy) was SB 27 .

After buying his contract from the Merchant Marine, he enlisted in Starfleet. Two months of recruit training and seven months of space technician's training later, he was sent to the Makus XII Starship repair and upgrade facility. This was a kind of frontier dry-dock that could render quick repairs and add-ons to ships as needed. Ari stayed with Makus XII for seven years (Makus had a reputation in the fleet for a large turnover) getting promoted very quickly to the position of Senior Technician and the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer.

During his time at Makus, he earned expert ratings on all the types of Starships that passed through the facility. At the end of his seventh year, he was invited by Fleet Command to transfer to the Prentaries Colony to a new design group that was being formed by Starfleet Engineering. He accepted, and prepared for the new position with gusto. The Prentaries Project was a group of designers, engineers and technicians that were attempting to take starship design to the next level. Unfortunately, the design team never got a chance to realize their dream. The campus was attacked seven months after Ari's arrival by unknown forces. Ari helped in repelling the attack, receiving a disrupter wound in the abdomen for his trouble.

Starfleet decided to discontinue the Prentaries Project, as its leader and two of its members were killed in the attack. After recuperating from his wounds, Ari wondered, "What Next?" He had received a commendation and choice of his next duty assignment. He decided that his next move would be to become an officer.

In those days there were several reasons it was much easier to become an officer without ever attending the Academy. To start, Ari was an accomplished engineer with real world experience in a leadership position on a ship. He already had a degree that he got at the feet of one of the greatest designers of all time. Another reason was that Starfleet was experiencing a lack of qualified officers. Probably most important, he had a reputation for sticking around a duty station if it suited his needs. Ari took advantage and entered Officer's Candidate School.

Six months later, Ari graduated in the top of his class and was promoted to Ensign (brevet) . He was assigned to the U.S.S. Hermes (NCC-585), a scout class cruiser, as an engineering officer. During his time on the Hermes he distinguished himself as the first brevet Ensign to win the Starfleet Engineering Commendation-Class of Excellence medal; the first of many firsts for Ari Enfield. Ari's fate was sealed; he would be retained as an Ensign upon completion of the brevet process.

After finishing his tour on the Hermes Ari was promoted to Lieutenant, (j.g.) and was assigned aboard the U.S.S. Hannibal, a Saladin class destroyer (NCC-512). It was here that his patience was put to the test as he was utilized in areas that Ari felt, at the time, had no bearing on his true vocation. He was posted to the transporter and later communications. He did for a short time work in the engineering section, but only on the impulse deck. Francisco Cumberland, the man who really made the Hannibal what it was, stated later, "If I were Captain (of the Hannibal) back then, I certainly wouldn't have put Enfield in the transporter and communications departments. Hell, he'd just been commended for work in engineering for God's sake! He was a warp engine designer. If I had him, I would have made him Assistant Chief Engineer. The mind reels at the "workings" of the military."

Ari would languish for four more years on the U.S.S. Huron, an Independence class freighter (NCC-F1313). He was made the Assistant Chief Transporter Officer and later Chief of Security. He wouldn't languish without a fight, however. Using his off time, he developed an improved antimatter injector system for starships that got a trial on his old home, the U.S.S. Hermes. For this, he won the Z-Magnees prize for design in 2266, and another first came his way; he was the first offspring of a previous winner to receive the award. Starfleet, needless to say, now had a public relations nightmare on their hands. After a quick promotion to Lieutenant Commander, they had to give Ari any post he wanted.

Ari had read about the new frigate class with unihull design while serving on board the Hannibal. He decided that Chief Engineer was what he wanted so he requested a transfer to the U.S.S. Daran, Tellar class (NCC-7013) but there was one problem; the Daran wouldn't be back in from shakedown trials for another eight months. He then requested to be put on detached service to the Huron until the Daran was ready. He got his wish, and went to earth to help at Starfleet Engineering.

At Starfleet Engineering, Ari was in his element. He got a chance to see all of the forthcoming designs for ships that had been declassified at the time. Some of the proposals were startling to say the least. The Tellar class was what interested him the most. It had what its designers called a "unihull" structure; a ship that was basically a standard primary hull section with a connected warp drive sled. Impulse power was routed through the aft portion of the sled via power conduits. The sled added no extra crew accommodations and no shuttle capability to the ship. It was essentially a fast attack ship, designed primarily for quick incursions into hot areas. This made it more versatile than the destroyer as the frigate could achieve speeds of warp eight or better and had better maneuverability than a heavy cruiser.

Ari got fully rated on the Tellar class engine control systems as fast as he could. When Daran returned from its shakedown trial, the ship was quickly commissioned and crewed. Aristotle Enfield was finally a Starfleet Chief Engineer.

Ari spent three years on the Daran. When the ship was heavily damaged in an ion storm, some thought it had to be towed back into port. Ari didn't see it that way. This was his ship, and he wasn't about to give in so easily to the naysayers. The Daran's captain thought it was a good idea to let Ari try to get the ship in under its own power. He repaired most of the major damage with components at hand, and what he didn't have, he managed to scrounge from other ships that knew his reputation. After 8 days of trying to keep the ship from drifting out of the shipping lanes on reaction control thrusters, Ari had the Daran repaired and spaceworthy. They got the ship to Ari's old haunt, Makus XII, and more extensive repairs were effected. Then the ship got back to earth and was refit for its next mission.

For his efforts, Ari was awarded the Starfleet Legion of Honor. He was also given the Alpha Centaurian Engineering Citation and the Zefram Cochrane Institute award for innovation in engineering.

Of course, none of this went unnoticed. Captain Serek, in command of the newly commissioned Intrepid II (NCC-1738), had read the exploits of Aristotle G. Enfield and decided that he needed him for his "senior staff," a new way of structuring the command of divisions on a Starship. Serek's ship and mission was on top of Starfleet's priority list so on Serek's request, Enfield was attached to the Intrepid II as soon as the Daran was out of dry-dock.

Enfield was a little stunned. He received the orders to report to the Intrepid II and got his promotion to Commander in the same StarGram from Fleet Command. As soon as he said good-bye to his friends on the Daran he reported to the Intrepid II.

Ari had automatically decided to not like Serek. After all, this assignment would take Ari away from engineering and put him back in the Support/Services division, as the Intrepid II already had a full time Chief Engineer (Lt. Cmdr. J. B. Carlton, a capable officer who was a whiz at systems analysis). Ari would be in charge of the entire Engineering/Support/Services division, and this left little time for any other activity, including research.

Ari was also not enamored of the choice of the Intrepid's Executive Officer. Cmdr. Mercedes L. Underwood was a good scientist but had made the mistake of thinking she was a fast track officer with an in to Command Division (she had 37 past assignments in her service record). The Chief Medical Officer, Pendragon, was a genius at medicine but had no practical "Frontier experience." The Chief Operations Officer, (back then, Chief of Command Division) was Commander Yyl Qete Daahm from the planet Xyram (a planet not even Starfleet Intelligence knew a lot about), who got too big for his own britches (but was later given command of his own Starship). The captain himself, while extremely capable, had been shuffled from one assignment to the next (also 37 at the time of his appointment to the Intrepid II) and so had no real experience in any long-term situation.

Enfield had examined all of these individuals' service records and the jackets some of the people under him and cringed inside. Ari's cousin Theresa Enfield (Commandant of the Starfleet Academy Command School at the time of her retirement) had opined that the Intrepid II was the "Leper colony of the fleet. Only Serek and (her cousin) had any real proven command experience in the field." This was exactly the kind of situation that Ari did not want to find himself in, but he had little choice, as he was chosen by the Intrepid II's CO and the ship was Starfleet's pet project.

The first meeting between Serek and Enfield was not entirely rosy, as you might imagine. Serek perceived Ari as too "casual" and Enfield thought the Vulcan too "Vulcan." They had to work together, however, so both officers decided to live with their respective lots. As their working relationship developed, the five officers, Serek, Underwood, Pendragon, Enfield and Daahm, would learn to work together and the perception of Intrepid II as a "Leper Colony," slowly vanished. It was only after several circumstances transpired that the status quo would be interrupted.

First, Commander Underwood was killed during a recon mission. Her death was sudden and shocking. Enfield remembers picking her lifeless form up off of the transporter pad and taking her to sickbay himself. Ari also read the eulogy at her funeral, as they had grown extremely close during the Intrepid's mission. Second, Commander Daahm was promoted and given command of the ship U.S.S. Eagle (NCC-1719). He took the command because Serek had promoted Enfield to Executive Officer over him (Enfield had more time in service and more time in grade, by a few days, than Daahm. Serek made the choice based on the regulations and not his personal opinion of how good an officer Daahm was), and Daahm resented this. Enfield would only speak to Daahm one more time, at a reunion of Intrepid II command officers.

Perhaps the most startling was Pendragon. One of the most gifted practitioners of medicine in his day (some say he could have become the Starfleet Surgeon General), he was summoned to sickbay on a medical emergency and was so incapacitated that he had to have a subordinate officer take over. On the captain's order, the doctor was examined and was found to have massive amounts of HydroZynol A in his system. This drug was used as an antidepressant and was highly addictive. The doctor was immediately detached from the Intrepid II crew and placed in rehabilitation. He died in rehab several months later.

These events (which basically occurred one after the other) only strengthened Serek and Ari's resolve to finish the Intrepid's seven-year mission. Hence, they decided that Lt. Cmdr. Charles Blackcloud, the assistant chief science officer, should be made the chief of sciences. The more difficult decision was what to do about the chief medical officer. Good ones were not a dime a dozen. The decision was made for them when the dreadnought U.S.S. Federation (NCC-2100) was pulled from active duty for a major refit.

One of the Federation's medical staff, the Vulcan/Andorian hybrid Lt. Cmdr. Selev, had just been promoted to full commander and was shopping around for a spot. He contacted Serek, and using a logical argument (which wasn't lost on Serek) an interview was set up. Serek was impressed and after making a request to Starfleet Medical, Selev was installed as the Intrepid's CMO.

The final choice was the Chief of Command, and this choice was pretty simple. Enfield approached Commander Jethryk as they had served together on the Daran. Jethryk was now attached to Starfleet Command in the CinC's office (essentially waiting for an assignment). When Ari contacted him, he was quite relieved. Jethryk was, in his own words, "A spacer for life," and jumped at the opportunity for this spot.

The Intrepid would go on for the next 3 years with most of its crew intact. In the time between the re-crewing of the Command Staff and the time of her homecoming, Intrepid II logged many milestones.

The first was its integration into what Starfleet then called "The Tactical Squadron." This was a group of ships made up of Intrepid II, the dreadnought Star League, the heavy cruiser Bellatrix, and the destroyer Hannibal. While not an official fixture in the fleet, The Tactical Squadron would go on many missions together and distinguish themselves as a historical fixture in Starfleet for years to come.

The end of Intrepid II’s mission was bittersweet, to say the least. Almost all of the command staff had offers of promotion and different types of plum assignments (the rule was that once one returned from space, everyone tried to get you to sit it out on the ground). Ari wasn’t looking for a "plum" assignment, just something on the ground. He knew he was to be promoted to Captain, and had felt that he wanted a ground post in order to get some perspective. Serek wasn’t going to let that happen.

Serek had been promoted to Rear Admiral (over Fleet Captain and Commodore, the same as James Kirk) and offered the post of Commandant of Starfleet Academy. He accepted. Starfleet asked for his recommendations on a replacement for Captain of the Intrepid II (at that time, getting a complete refit). Serek only put one name on his list: Aristotle G. Enfield.

When Ari received the news, he was taken quite aback. He was under the impression that his return from a long mission in space gave him his choice of the next assignment. That was true as far as it went, but Starfleet had final say. Ari was disappointed, but hopeful that he, as with so many of his other posts, could turn this lemon into lemonade.

Ari oversaw the refit himself, his engineering prowess taken into account by his new chief engineer. The refit was complete in 2 years and trials completed six months after that. Ari took command of the new ship, redubbed Intrepid A. The mission was relatively simple, patrol a disputed area near the Klingon and Romulan Neutral Zones code named by Starfleet the Nimbus Slot . As mentioned, the patrol was simple, but not without its dangers.

The first mission was just a reconnoiter, to see how far the Intrepid could go before it was challenged by hostile vessels. It didn’t take long to find out as two hours, fifty-three minutes into the fourth day of the mission, a Klingon D-7 battle cruiser appeared on the sensors.

Captain Enfield had no burning desire to engage Klingon warships on his first assignment, however, turning to was not an option either. As the two ship commanders got into a rather heated debate on the merits of the Organian Peace Treaty, other Klingon vessels entered the engagement zone. Ari was now not in a position to argue and agreed to have the Intrepid escorted out of the area. Unknown to all, another ship came out of cloak under the Intrepid and drifted too close to the Starship. Neutrino emissions (the remnants of a cloaked ship) must have interfered with the Intrepid’s shields and the formerly cloaked ship exploded causing itself massive damage.

Enfield managed to extract the Intrepid from the area and to report back to a Starbase, but not before a message left the Klingon High Council that they wanted Captain Enfield for war crimes violations. This was patently absurd, as a Starfleet Board of Inquiry had exonerated Enfield of any wrongdoing, however, he was through, at least for now, as a line officer. Ari was given command of what would be his best experience in the fleet, the Utopia Planetia Starship Construction Facility on Phobos, orbiting the planet Mars.

Ari was not only close to home and his mom (his parents had divorced over their growing differences. Also, Jennifer felt that the chasm that had developed in her son’s relationship with her husband was all Amos’ fault) but he was also basically in charge of a design group. The other members of the UP team regarded Enfield with some consternation early on, as they felt that being a distinguished officer in Starfleet and the commander of the facility might make Ari a bit of a prima donna. Once Ari proved that he was willing to let these brilliant designers design ships the way they wanted, he was accepted by the team with open arms.

Some important designs came out of Utopia Planetia in those days, including the Excelsior class. New developments in warp geometry by Ari and his mother (whom Ari requested as a consultant) at UP made later designs like the Ambassador, Galaxy and Nebula classes all possible. Ari would stay at UP for eleven years. He would also be used as a consultant to the Mars Terraforming Bureau and the Martian Geological Survey. Ari even managed to squeeze out a design of his own, the Oberth class.

Near the end of his time at UP, the Klingon government had a shift of power, a new Chancellor was installed and Ari was no longer on the war crime list. After 11 years, 7 Starfleet commendations and almost 30 awards for design excellence, Ari decided it was time to move on. He was now a Commodore and he was given command of the U.S.S. Oberth-the ship that he had designed at Utopia. Ari would log a five-year mission mapping gaseous anomalies near the Beta Quadrant (a job completed by the U.S.S. Excelsior).

After his stint on the Oberth Ari was asked by his old friend Serek to take a post at Starfleet Command. This was okay to Ari and he managed to finish his career in Starfleet as the Starfleet Deputy Commander, 128 years after his first enlistment. His last act as a Starfleet officer was to dedicate the Enfield Library on the Martian campus of Zefram Cochrane University under a blue Martian sky. Terraforming of the Red Planet was completed a week before the "old man" retired.

For a man who felt he was not the master of his own destiny at times, Aristotle G. Enfield has recorded possibly one of the five most distinguished careers in SFOF history. He may not have liked where he was all the time, but that didn’t stop him from getting the job done.