Francisco Cumberland was born in the small settlement of McMurdo Sound on the continent of Antarctica on Earth, to two computer specialists, Hosato and Alejandra Cumberland. The two of them had been working on refitting the community's mainframe computer when she had become pregnant. Wishing to give their first child a stable environment for his first few years, they settled down in McMurdo Sound and raised Francisco in a loving family environment.

From the first, it was clear that Francisco (or as they called him, "Frisco") was an extraordinary child. By the age of two, he had already begun speaking not only in Standard, but also in Spanish and Japanese. He also showed a great facility with voice-interface computers, although he never showed an interest in pursuing his parents' careers. Here were the first indications of Francisco's talents: an inherent gift for languages that would eventually give him an interest in cultural anthropology, and an above-average intellect.

When Francisco turned seven, the Cumberlands decided that he was old enough to travel, allowing them to accept the many job offers to be had in the Federation. For the next six years, the Cumberlands traveled around the Federation to such diverse places as Vulcan, Andor, Daran V, the Rigel system, Aldebaran and even worlds bordering the Klingon Empire, usually staying anywhere from two months to one year.

It was a marvelous experience for young Francisco. Not only did he become fluent in several additional languages, but he became enthralled with the joys of travelling from one place to another, and with spacecraft of every kind, from simple cargo shuttles to the starships that he and his parents occasionally travelled aboard. Hereafter, he would develop a keen interest in becoming a aerospace pilot.

The unfortunate drawback to the family's meanderings was that Francisco was showing unstable personality traits, dictated by mood swings and outbursts of temper. His parents decided, when he turned thirteen, to send him back to Earth to live in the care of Hosato's mother.

Shikiku Cumberland, Hosato's widowed mother, was well past her prime, but was still a powerful figure. Not only was she the head of one of the oldest Japanese clans still in existence, she was also a rather stern, no-nonsense woman who was more than the equal of one intelligent, temperamental adolescent such as her grandson. She was a rather reactionary person who stilled cooked her own meals instead of using the food synthesizer or even having a servant prepare them for her.
Francisco spent his first months at his grandmother's home in Agarashima, Japan disconsolate at what he called his "incarceration with a female Attila the Hun." His attitude changed, however, when he learned of his Japanese family history.

The Onada clan had associated with many diverse sects of Japanese society down through the centuries, including a cult of assassins called the ninja, who had developed the arts of hand-to-hand combat and concealment to an almost mystical level. The Onadas, while not ninjas themselves, learned these secrets and improved upon them in modern times, gaining the ability to hide from sensor scans and even creating false identities.

Shikiku, then the current (and first female) Master of Onada, began to teach her grandson the Onada arts, at first merely to teach him self-discipline and to be able to defend himself if necessary. However, as time progressed, she began to notice that he was learning skills in a matter of months that an ordinary student would have taken years to acquire. Shikiku recalled an ancient legend of the Onada, a legend of a "white tiger" who would become a great Master called the Destroyer. While she did not seriously believe that Francisco was the embodiment of this legend, she did believe that he has the potential to succeed her as Master of Onada.

In his spare time from school and training, Francisco also learned to fly spacecraft [this is discrete from aircraft, which by the twenty-third century had become so automated that they had replaced ground-effect automobiles.], earning his Extra-Atmospheric and Interplanetary pilot's license while still in secondary school. It was then that he decided to enter Starfleet Academy to become a helmsman on a starship.

During his last year in Agarashima, Francisco had fallen out of touch with his parents, who had been on a job assignment far out on the fringes of Federation territory. When they had finally been able to reach a outpost with a sub-space channel, they informed Francisco of their whereabouts and condition -- and of the birth of their second child, Toshiro Juaquin (hereafter referred to as "T.J."). They also informed him of their eventual arrival for a visit.

Francisco, shattered by what he perceived as disaffection and abandonment on his parents' part, left his grandmother's home. He felt he needed to distance himself from his family, though he had come to love his grandmother Shikiku (and she him as well).

He therefore enrolled in Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, where his high grades enabled him to get a position in the class of 2268. His rather ebullient personality, coupled with his high intelligence, quickly gained him a reputation among his instructors as a smart-ass.

One of his instructors, Cmdr. T. Eliot Stokes, was of a different opinion. Stokes, a veteran of the Four Years' War, was a tactics instructors who saw in Cumberland a brilliant natural strategist, not to mention a fine starship helmsman. He became a mentor to the young man, encouraging him and, when necessary, reprimanding him for his unprofessionalism.

Stokes was not the only person who took an interest in young Cumberland. A young Caitian female cadet, Me-Ar Karole, was one of Cumberland's classmates during starship simulation training. She was a navigation trainee, and as such was the perfect partner for Cumberland the fledgling helmsman. The two began a platonic friendship that would last up to the present time. A female human, Eleanor Hardy, a sciences trainee, had a brief affair with Cumberland, until she flunked out when her outside interests clashed with her schoolwork.

In their third year of at the Academy, the class of cadets were put through a combat-survival test, a variation on the Unknown Assassin Scenario. The location used was an abandoned scientific research station on the Jovian moon of Callisto. It was a test not only of individual survival skills, but of teamwork in a pressure situation.

During this test, Cumberland and Karole, who quite naturally decided to team up for this ordeal, ran across two other cadets: Maxwell Cochrane, a sciences specialist (and incidentally a direct descendant of Zefram Cochrane himself) and Jerald Stewart, a security trainee. The four decided to pool their talents, eventually earning the highest rating for the combat-survival scenario.
At the end of his four years at the Academy, Cumberland graduated valedictorian. He was offered a graduate-assistant instructor post at the Academy, but he politely declined (the post eventually went to Max Cochrane). He wanted to serve on a starship.

He got his wish -- and then some. The captain of the U.S.S. Saratoga was none other than Eliot Stokes, recently promoted to captain and given his first command. He felt Cumberland would benefit from his continued tutelage aboard Saratoga, and he had also grown fond of the younger man. Years later, when Stokes and his wife had had a son, Cumberland was named the godfather of the child, who was named Francisco Cumberland Stokes.

Cumberland came aboard as a junior helmsman, usually serving the "low watch" (0000 to 0800 hours.). However, within a year of his assignment, he was eligible to be shifted to the "mid watch" (I600 to 0000 hours.) on the bridge. This enabled him to participate in more planetary landing party assignments.

It was during his third such excursion, on Epsilon Pegasi VI, that several members of the crew, including Capt. Stokes, were attacked by a group of Orion pirates, who had taken advantage of the Federation's thin spread of manpower in that area to establish a burgeoning slave trade based in that star system. As an enforcer, the Orions had even "recruited" a Kalar -- a native of Rigel VII, a two-meter Neanderthalic humanoid. Cumberland, against incredible odds, managed to defeat the Kalar in hand-to-hand combat, though not without sustaining injuries of his own. However, Sorahn, a Vulcan lieutenant (j.g.) that Cumberland has befriended some time before, had died in another skirmish that day.

The Saratoga complement broke up the slavery ring and arranged for the captives to be sent back to their homeworlds. Ens. Cumberland received a Starfleet Wound Decoration (his first of two to date) and the Command Citation for Valor.

Cumberland returned to his duties aboard ship in the grip of a profound depression. The death of Sorahn was his first direct experience with the loss of a friend and fellow officer, and it began to have an effect on his work and his personal attitudes.

Stokes realized that Cumberland needed a change, and so, upon Cumberland's promotion to lieutenant (j.g.), he arranged Cumberland's transfer to Starbase XI to the position of records officer.

Cumberland protested the transfer mildly (for him, that is), saying that he served Starfleet best as a line officer. Stokes reprimanded him, telling him that all officers serve Starfleet best wherever they are, or else they are not in Starfleet, period. Besides, in his current mental condition, he was no good to Stokes or to the Saratoga.

(Additionally, Stokes felt that Cumberland needed as much working knowledge of the Starfleet bureaucracy as he could get, and records officer was a good place to get it. However, he did not mention this to Cumberland, figuring that he would find out for himself eventually.)

Cumberland accepted the transfer with as much grace as he could muster, and decided to plunge into the job enthusiastically. Keeping the detailed minutiae of such a large organization was not an easy job, but Cumberland relished it. He began to accept the loss of his friend Sorahn, though he vowed to never forget him.

During his tour at Starbase XI, he frequently used his off-time in the starship simulator, practicing his helm maneuvers and tactics. While he had come to enjoy the job of records officers, he felt that at heart he was still a helmsman. Using the simulator, he managed to keep his test scores high during his ground assignment. He also renewed his study of alien languages, eventually developing fluency in 25 languages.

It seemed that Francisco had little time to make friends and pursue relationships; nevertheless, he did both. Another lieutenant (j.g.), Damon Skye, was an engineer involved with a theoretical design group stationed at the starbase. Also possessed of an unconventional turn of mind, Skye formed a friendship with Cumberland, causing the latter to one day recommend him for chief engineer about his first command.

At about the same time, Cumberland had a casual affair with a Starfleet medical trainee named Maureen Barstow. While doing field work for her dissertation at the base, she met and fell in love with the brash young officer. However, their careers were taking them in different directions, and so they parted amicably.

He used what spare time he had in keeping himself well-versed in the techniques that his grandmother Shikiku had taught him. He still kept in contact with her, once visiting her on Earth during accumulated leave-time to celebrate her isseiki-hi — her century day. It was during this time that he and his grandmother became embroiled on a intrigue, the details of which have yet to be recorded.

After three years at Starbase XI, Cumberland was promoted to full lieutenant and was given the opportunity to choose his next assignment. On an impulse, he asked to be transferred aboard the next starship to dock at the starbase: the U.S.S. Copernicus, a transport/tug class starship. As it happened, the ship needed an experienced officer to fill the assistant chief helmsman's position, and Cumberland qualified easily.

Some of the lower ranks were disgruntled that a "computer jockey" was brought on board for the job, but Cumberland worked with such diligence, good will, and good humor that he won them over.
The ship's usual assignment (usual for all transport/tugs) was to ferry large cargo liners from star system to star system. While many of these had their own impulse engines, they did not have warp-drive. The missions of such ships tended to be routine, bordering on dull.

The captain of the Copernicus, Lester Bogainville, was a rather casual commander compared to Eliot Stokes. Besides being the type of man who would never ask anything of his men that he would be unwilling to do himself, he would sometimes even eat in the common crew mess instead of his cabin or the officer's lounge. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, his crew was unusually loyal to him. He and Cumberland developed a healthy working relationship and almost as good a personal one.

That ended, unfortunately, the day that the ship was attacked by a phalanx of Tholian web-ships. A lucky shot from their disruptors pierced the shields and destroyed the Main Bridge, with the captain and most of the senior officers in it. A second shot had damaged the warp engines, so the Copernicus could not outrun the Tholians at warp-speed.

Cumberland, who was off-duty before the alert, went to the Auxiliary Bridge, to find that he was the senior surviving command officer. (The chief engineer was too busy in Engineering to take command). Cumberland assumed command and set course along the only unguarded trajectory away from the Tholians.

That was a trap, of course, but Cumberland had anticipated that. He ordered the impulse engines to full power and had the cargo carrier supplement that with its own impulse engines, driving the Copernicus at near-relativistic speed -- straight for another group of Tholian ships, with a pre-weaved "energy web" stretched between them, ready to engulf the starship.

At the last possible second, Cumberland detonated the explosive charges connecting the carrier to the ship (its skeleton crew having already evacuated safely) and veered off, leaving the million-ton cargo container to plough into the web. The Tholian ships that were still connected to the web were drawn to each other, collided and destroyed.

Having used the time to bring the warp engines back on-line, Cumberland beat a hasty retreat. After reporting back to the nearest starbase with the damaged transport/tug, he was decorated with the Grankite Order of Tactics and promoted to lieutenant commander. He was given the assignment of first officer aboard a Hermes-class scout, the Pegasus.

His new assignment was doubly pleasurable, for he was reunited with his old friend Me-Ar Karole, now a lieutenant and the chief navigator of the ship. His new captain, an Andorian commander named Thargon, was a rather pleasant fellow with an Old World charm about him.

Approximately 6 months into Cumberland's posting, the ship traveled to Sigma Bootes, a star system somewhat near the Kzin patriarchy. Strange subspace modulations had been detected emanating from the fourth planet of Sigma Bootis, which could have been signals of some kind. Because of a peculiar type of radiation produced by the system's primary (harmless to humanoid life but inhibiting transporter signals), Thargon elected to use a shuttlecraft for a landing-party survey. Cumberland commanded the party, which included Karole and five others in the shuttlecraft.

Soon after the shuttle landed, the party was attacked by a group of Kzinti sentries, who were stationed at a secret base on the planet. (Because of the unusual radiation, the Pegasus could not detect them from orbit). Two of the landing party were killed and the shuttlecraft was damaged in the firefight, with life-support equipment remaining for only four persons. Cumberland ordered the others to take off, making sure that the base's weaponry was unable to fire upon it.

Almost simultaneously, a fleet of Kzin warcraft converged on the Pegasus, just after Karole and the others made it aboard safely. The lightly-armed scout was outgunned by the Kzin, and so Thargon bitterly decided to retreat and get backup.

Cumberland managed to trim the odds against him, but inevitably the Kzinti captured him, injuring him almost to the point of death. Perversely, the Kzin leader ordered that he be kept alive as long as possible, to prolong the agony of his crushed back and legs.

Cumberland managed to hold out long enough for the Pegasus, along with some high-powered help, to arrive and drive the Kzin fleet away and to rescue their trapped comrade. Me-Ar Karole personally led the rescue team and rode the shuttlecraft carrying him back to the ship.

Cumberland was placed in suspension for the trip back to Earth, where a relatively new treatment awaited him: an advanced form of cellular regeneration, conceived and tested by the famous medical team of Plekar (Healer) Sorel and Doctor Daniel Corrigan. While it was a dangerous procedure, it was Cumberland's only hope.

After five months in the regen unit, Cumberland was awakened, physically whole once again. However, he had something even more disheartening to deal with: during his coma, his grandmother had passed away. While it took him some weeks to recover from the death of his most cherished family member, he realized that the last thing she would want would be for him to mourn her.

On the lighter side, Cumberland had found that his misadventure had garnered him a promotion to commander, his second wound decoration, the Karagite Order of Heroism -- and his first command, on the recommendation of his old mentor Eliot Stokes, the new Chief of Command Operations for Starfleet. He also became something of a media figure, for his "heroic adventure." He endured with as much modesty as he could call upon.

Upon completing his physical therapy, Cumberland threw himself into accepting his new command, the destroyer U.S.S. Hannibal. He used some of his new-found clout to get Me-ar Karole as his first officer (after she had ably filled in for him during the last five months on the Pegasus) and also his old friends Max Cochrane and J.T. Stewart, who had completed tours on the U.S.S. Constitution with distinction, as his chief sciences and chief services officers, respectively. He even took the trouble to locate Damon Skye, now a full lieutenant, to have his transferred aboard as his chief engineer.
At around the same time that Cumberland took command of the Hannibal, Chief of Starship Operation Adm. C’Tenar Lerl decided to organize a "tactical squadron" of ships to function as a task force as needed. Command of this task force was given to Commodore Jake Caffey, captain of the newly commissioned dreadnought Star League. Caffey had previously distinguished himself during the Four Years’ War and more recently as captain of the U.S.S. Constitution. He was one of the few officers in Starfleet that Cumberland genuinely admired.

On the other hand, another captain in the task force -- Serek of Vulcan, captain of the new Intrepid II, was not to become one of Cumberland’s favorite people. Officious, arrogant, spit-and-polish, by-the-book, he was everything Cumberland stood against in Starfleet. For his part, Capt. Serek thought this brash young commander a fool and probably insubordinate to boot. One of Commodore Caffey’s complaints in later years was that he spent an inordinate amount of time not being so much as their superior officer but as their referee.

In spite of this, Cumberland served well with Serek and Caffey, as well as other Starfleet captains in the task force, and distinguished himself in many missions as captain of the Hannibal.. Although his strategic and diplomatic styles could be called "unorthodox" if not "eccentric," they were mitigated by the fact that time and again Cumberland’s intuitive grasp of a given situation was almost always correct. As the Klingons once said, honor and fear were heaped upon his name -- and not only from his enemies.

After several years, Cumberland was promoted to captain. Although offered to command a heavy cruiser, Cumberland elected to stay with the Hannibal, claiming that to break up a winning combination willingly was the height of foolishness.

Unfortunately, about six years after his promotion, during his eleventh year as commanding officer of the Hannibal, the ship was called upon to repel an incursion into Federation space by a Klingon task force near the Neutral Zone. Though outnumbered, the Hannibal had already destroyed most of her opponents when a disruptor shot cleaved through the weakening shields and hit the nacelle, endangering the containment of the antimatter within. Cumberland elected to eject the nacelle even as the phasers disabled the last Klingon ship; however, the explosive bolts caused the already-damaged dorsal section to disintegrate, causing critical damage to the impulse engines. When the ejected nacelle underwent containment failure and exploded several kilometers behind the primary hull, the blast propelled the ship towards a Class-M planet in the Epsilon Eridon system; with only a few of the RCS thrusters working, there was no way to change course even to achieve orbit. Cumberland, after having the shuttlecraft leave the hanger deck, brought the saucer through the atmosphere, a manuever never before attempted on a starship. Successfully splashing down in an ocean near a major land mass, Cumberland managed to save two-thirds of his crew. The ship, coming to rest almost on the shore of the continent, was evacuated, with the help of the shuttlecraft.

A few days later, the Star League arrived, to rescue the crew of the Hannibal -- and to place Cumberland under arrest pending court-martial, a standard Starfleet procedure whenever a ship is lost. Although the prosecution compiled its case with what might be termed "unseemly zealousness," a verdict of not guilty was returned.

Subsequently, Cumberland was given command of the U.S.S. Miranda, which had been the first of a new class of ship which was starting to become a standard of Starfleet vessels. Through the years, Cumberland would further make a name for himself as an explorer and diplomat, establishing relations with dozens of newly discovered civilizations, many of which made splendid additions to the Federation.

It has not yet been revealed when and under what circumstances that Francisco Cumberland was promoted to admiral. However, early in the twenty-fourth century, when Cumberland had been in Starfleet for about fifty years, he had a sudden epiphany. It was time to go back to the ancestral homestead and assume the role of the Master of Onada, as his grandmother had foreseen decades before. He resigned from Starfleet, at least officially, though his services have been asked for and given on certain occasions since then.

Now, at the age of one hundred thirty-two years (give or take), Francisco Cumberland is content to the live the life of a former adventurer...for now.

PARENTS AND SIBLINGS:
Hosato Cumberland (father)
Alejandra (nee Montoya) Cumberland (mother)
Toshiro Juaquin ("T.J.") Cumberland (brother)
Shikiku (nee Onada) Cumberland (paternal grandmother, deceased)
Yakashiro ("Shiro") Onada (cousin)

CHARACTER APPEARANCE AND PERSONAL DATA:
HEIGHT: 5' II" Weight: I95. Hair Color/Style: Black/Straight, with full beard (covering several facial scars). Eyes: Brown (hint of Oriental "almond-eye" shape) Build: slim, muscular, like a Gymnast rather than a Weightlifter. (Note: in later years, his hair turned grey, but only after reaching seventy. He is still in much better physical shape than most men his age.)

ABILITIES:
He is a master of a Japanese Martial Art incorporating Ninjitsiu, Karate, Kendo, Aikido, as well as several other disiplines. In his youth, these disciplines were mostly physical in nature; in later years, several mental disciplines, including extrasensory awareness and the ability to cast his thoughts into the minds of others (usually those already possessing some telepathic faculty) came to the fore. He is still a master swordsman; he usually carries a walking stick with a hidden sword

HOBBIES/LIKES/DISLIKES:
Likes Alien languanges and can speak Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto, Vulcan, Klingonese, Romulan, Andorian, Tellarite, Caitian, and Basic fluently and can read all of the above plus; Fabrini, Saurian, & The Ancient Language of the Preservers. He always endeavoring to learn new languages. also harbors a fascination with ancient aircraft. Dislikes pomposity and intractibility, prefering people with a sense of style, humor and self-discipline.

PERSONALITY:
While seemingly a loud-mouthed uncouth lout, he is actually an intelligent, perceptive and self-controlled individual, who will often purposely exaggarate his reactions in order to throw others off balance to gain control of a situation. Feels that unnecessary decorum hides a lack of knowledge about the real world. While outwardly sociable and extroverted, he is difficult to get truly close to and tends to hide his inner self. In later years, he still maintains a somewhat youthful, "hip" outlook on life.