James Shaw

James Maximilian Shaw was born to Molly and Reginald Otis Shaw in London, United Earth, on the very snowy 10th of December, 2774. He spent his childhood in the very suburbs of London, out towards Essex, where he took his first steps as a polyglot, learning French from one of his classmates, who had moved to London and lived just a few houses down from Shaw. This first part was very quiet, with nothing much of note occuring except him learning to speak French really quite well.

When he was 14, his parents took the decision to move to the Federation colony on Archanis IV because of lucrative job opportunities. There James first met Klingons and immediately fell in love with them and their culture. His closest friends weren’t his Federation classmates or neighbours anymore, but boys from the Klingon Quarter. His bookshelves increasingly filled with Klingon grammar books, literary classics, even the odd combat handbook.

Here he also began actively working out to be able to keep up with the Klingons, who, though as tall and as heavy as him, could easily twist Shaw into knots. His parents kept themselves cautiously optimistic about their son’s new interests and associates – after all, moving across the galaxy was a big transition and the fact that he was friends, good friends with anyone here was a definite positive.

At age 17, Shaw, together with around 30 of his closest associates from both the Federation and Klingon settlers, formed the Archanis Brotherhood, an organisation technically dedicated to the establishment of an independent Archanis System Republic, independent of both the UFP and the Empire, a place where Klingons, Humans and others can live together. James Maximilian himself was Chief Political Commisar of it for 2 years. The Brotherhood quickly devolved into nothing more than a ‘cool boys’ club, which held raves and parties every couple weeks, also the occasional street fight. Even after all these years, the organisation still exists and Shaw is still an honorary member, the Brotherhood’s badge he keeps on his nightstand always.

At 18 came graduation from high school, which he did with honours in Federation Standard, Culturology and Physical Education. Shaw, after some string pulling on the part of his parents, got a position as a metallurgical engineer producing shuttle chassis on an orbital platform. That wasn’t where his heart was, though.

Living on Archanis, a world jointly administrated by the Klingon Empire and the UFP gave him the right to freely travel and work in both. He exploited this. Shortly after Christmas of 2394, he took off for the core worlds of the Empire, intending to seek honour and personal glory. While others might see this chapter of his life as a flash of youthful folly, he himself sees this as a very direct way of broadening his horizons.

Shaw’s exploits across the Empire warrant an entire anthology of stories, but suffice it to say that he returned to the UFP considerably more scarred, tattooed and longer haired than before. Throughout his travels, which took him to every corner of the diverse Empire, he discovered his truest passion – connecting with others through language. He picked up several dialects of Klingon, but also Nausicaan and Orion, both of which he speaks at a conversational level. Here also appeared his diplomatic skills, through which he managed to keep himself alive, to keep himself moving and to secure supplies, even though very often he didn’t have a singular darsek to his name.

His return to Earth after 11 years away was certainly an adjustment, but, like everything else, he weathered it. Everyone he met recommended him to join Starfleet – his skillset would be very useful to a Federation in the midst of several internal and external crises. And so he did.

The Academy was a place James would remember fondly always. Everyone who he met was, just like him, ready to learn, curious about the galaxy and ready to uncover its wonders. As a parallel to his standard Starfleet Academy course, he also worked on and got a master’s degree in Klingon Culture and Language, with the thesis ‘The Influence of the Nausicaan Language upon the Klingon Vernacular of Kayvok’.

At age 27, James Maximilian Shaw graduated Starfleet Academy and was commissioned as an Ensign working in Sciences. Upon his graduation record would be noted his particular skills in dealings with strange cultures, which would lead to him working also as a diplomatic officer.

As an Ensign, he was posted to the USS Sizemore, where he worked as the resident linguist and culturologist. His superiors quickly noted how the young Ensign managed to figure out languages faster than most they had met and that Shaw would be very useful on an exploratory vessel, not an internal patrol vessel like the Sizemore.

Upon his promotion to Lieutenant JG, he put in for a transfer for something bigger, and his wish was answered – the USS Pioneer picked him, where he now serves as both chief linguist and diplomatic officer. There he moved to the Command division because of this second new position.