Biography - Ulysses S. Murdock

The man who would one day become known as Ulysses Murdock was the only son of a quasi-immortal human originally named Ahkarin, who was born in the area once known as Mesopotamia, over six thousand years ago. Ahkarin possessed a unique genetic anomaly that enabled him to survive virtually any wound (up to and possibly including decapitation) and prevented him from aging past mid-adulthood. Wandering through human history, Ahkarin assumed many identities, many of which, such as Socrates of Greece, Johannes Brahms, Lazarus of Galilee and Leonardo da Vinci, are remembered to this day. Eventually, Ahkarin came to think of himself as humanity’s benefactor, and chose to shape human history in whatever way he could.
Akharin married many times through the millenia, but most of the women he mated with were unable to bear him children, probably due to his unique DNA. However, a woman (whose name has not been revealed) that he married in the seventeenth century A.D. did indeed have five children by him. Four of them were more or less normal, and all lived normal lifespans for the period and died. The third-born, however, possessed at least some of Akharin’s genetic anomalies to afford him a version of the quasi-immortality that his father possessed.
As was his wont, Ahkarin faked his death to forestall suspicions of his unusual lifespan. His third child eventually discovered that he, like his father, did not age appreciably after adulthood, and he too had to conceal his gifts lest people think him a supernatural being.
Like his father, the man adopted a number of guises throughout the centuries, rarely if ever daring to love anyone for fear of watching someone he loved age before his eyes. Although he did not actively seek out his father, the two of them encountered each other a handful of times over the centuries. However, Ahkarin’s isolationism and his son’s bitterness over his fate kept driving them apart. While he did make many friends over the years, he kept a mostly mobile existence.
It has been established that during the late twentieth century, Ahkarin’s son established the identity of Samuel Edward Makin, an intelligence operative for the United States of America. During this time, he encountered and befriended a different sort of operative -- a man who called himself "Harold Smith" who was actually the agent of mysterious extraterrestrials who wanted the human race to survive its primitive, destructive era to become a starfaring race as was its destiny. Muldoon became Smith’s partner on a number of "assignments," the nature of which are as yet unrevealed.
Over the next two and a half centuries, Ahkarin’s son engaged in a number of activites: explorer, scientist, doctor and even (in a possibly apocryphal admission) music-hall entertainer. However, details as to these activities are sketchy, until approximately stardate 7306, when he encoutered a Starfleet captain named Francisco Cumberland. An unusual man himself, Cumberland recognized that his independent space trader who called himself "Cassius Flagg" was a lot more than he seemed. He also remembered a reference to an "ageless wanderer" that an ancestor of his, Master Kenji Onada, had made in his family archives (see Cumberland, Francisco for more details).
Flagg, as he now called himself, and Cumberland, along with the crew of the U.S.S. Hannibal, became entangled in an amazing adventure, the details of which are still classified by Starfleet Command. Suffice it to say, as Flagg was later heard to put it, it was a two-fifths-of-Scotch story.
Flagg and Cumberland kept in intermittent touch over the next few decades, even when Flagg "died" and became someone else for awhile.
In the early tweny-fourth century, Ahkarin finally began to succumb to old age. Ironically, his quasi-immortality only functioned as well as it did within the unique balance of Earth’s biosphere; removed from it, his body would slowly age. Eventually, he passed the point where returning to Earth would halt the process. He sent for his son to be with him at this deathbed.
"Enough of the mindless rambling," he told his son, the first words spoken to him in over three hundred years. "Maybe you did not ask for the gift of extended life, but it’s yours. Do something with it besides having time to mope around."
When his father died, the son carried the body to Earth, and buried it in the region once called Mesopotamia, as close to the verbal description his father gave of the homeland as he could make out, in an unmarked grave.
Having done that, and having taken the necessary steps to appear as a man in his early twenties, he enlisted in Starfleet Academy under the name of Ulysses Samuel Murdock. His identity records listed him as being the sole survivor of a disaster on a distant colony, so he was readily accepted in his new role.
Having been a part of human history as opposed to reading about it, and having the equivalent of several college educations during his lifetime, Murdock easily surpassed his peers in all academic endeavours. Likewise, his experience with many kinds of spacecraft, from early orbiter shuttles to warp-driven freighters, gave him an edge in space flight. The one thing he was lacking in was command structure, having been a loner most of his life. However, with his typical determination, he overcame this obstacle too.
Murdock realized that he could not hide his secret forever, so he did inform the Academy superintendent and the Starfleet Medical Corps. Promises were made that everything possible would be done to make sure that his privacy was maintained.
Graduating near the top of his class, Murdock was posted on a new ship, the Ambassador, the prototype of a new class of starship.
After this point, it is not known what transpired during the twenty years of his career. As of stardate 4200I, he was the first officer on the New Orleans-class ship U.S.S. Vladivostok. On stardate 43997, the Vladivostok was summoned to the Wolf 359 system, along with thirty-nine other starships, to engage a ship from a race known as the Borg. Ship after ship hurled itself at the Borg ship, only to be destroyed. The Vladivostok attacked in tandem with several others, only to be several damaged with numerous fatalities, including her captain. At this point, Murdock made the hard decision to withdraw from the battle, then swing back to pick up any survivors from the battle.
In the wake of the Borg’s narrow defeat above Earth, a political controversy ensued concerning Murdock’s decision. A vocal minority wanted to court-martial him for cowardice in the face of the enemy. However, saner heads prevailed, and Murdock was cleared of all charges. Eventually, he was promoted to the rank of captain.
When given the choice of what ship assignment he wanted, he immediately chose a ship with a familiar name: the Nebula-class U.S.S. Hannibal, as a tribute to his old friend. Cumberland, a century older but still fiesty, even came aboard (an unusual occurance, since his retirement the admiral was something of a recluse) to tour the ship and to wish his "protege" well.
The current activities of Captain Murdock and the Hannibal are at present classified by Starfleet Command.

PARENTS AND SIBLINGS:

Ahkarin (AKA Flint, Johannes Brahms, Socrates, Lazarus, Leonardo da Vinci, etc., father, deceased)
(Unnamed mother and siblings, deceased. It is possible that Murdock’s siblings have descendents even unto the twenty-fourth century).

CHARACTER APPEARANCE AND PERSONAL DATA:

Height: 6’ Weight: 2I0 lbs. Apparent age: 45 Terran years (Murdock can alter his apparent age, though this is a time-consuming process. Apparently the lowest age he can "go down to" is early twenties.) Dark brown hair, light grey eyes. Possesses the ability to recover quickly from many types of injuries, even those deemed fatal by twenty-fourth century medical standards. However, this healing ability is not as great as his father’s during his prime. He cannot grow new limbs, nor can he withstand disruptive energy as from a phaser. Unlike his father, Murdock’s quasi-immortality is not dependent on Earth’s biosphere; however, he also will not live as long as his father (who lived some six thousand years). The exact lifespan of Murdock is not known, but it will probably not exceed fifteen hundred years.

HOBBIES/LIKES/DISLIKES:

It is difficult to find something that Murdock hasn’t tried over the years. At least, as far as human culture goes. Therefore, he tends to indulge interests in alien cultures, such as Andorian, Vulcan, Betazoid and Klingon.

PERSONALITY:

While a trifle eccentric, due to his long life (when you get as old as he is, you tend to have your quirks) he nevertheless is the kind of man who inspires confidence even in the most unusual and even dangerous situations (again, when you’ve been through what he has, nothing fazes you.) The epitome of "been there, done that," one might say.