Character Information

Gender		Male
Species		Vulcan
Age		71

Physical Appearance

Height		184 cm
Weight		88 kg
Hair Color		Black
Eye Color		Dark brown
Physical Description		Salek is very typically Vulcan in character and appearance. He is slightly taller than the average human and has a slender but athletic build.

Family

Spouse		T’Lin
Children		None
Father		Suvok
Mother		T’Prin
Brother(s) and / or Sister(s)		T’Lar - Sister
Other Family		None

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Like every follower of Surak's teachings he will not readily express emotion. He shares a trait with most Vulcans in that he does not enjoy physical contact though there are a few exceptions to that case.
Strengths & Weaknesses		People will find him helpful and loyal without fault. His manner will often be considered blunt and perhaps rude but no offence is ever intended. After some regular exposure to Humans Salek has at least come to the understanding that his inter-personal skills (quite appropriate for Vulcans) when dealing with other species are in need of some work.
Ambitions		The pursuit of logic and science.
Hobbies & Interests		When not on duty or studying Skon likes to keep fit and is a keen runner. On Vulcan it was expected of a youth to take several survival courses before attempting the Kahs-wan. During the Kahs-wan Salek spent some weeks alone at the Forge, an unforgiving and inhospitable part of the Vulcan desert where he was against the elements. The test serves as a traditional right of passage to adulthood. He has since maintained an active enjoyment survivalist type pursuits.

Personal History		In 2307 Salek was born into a good Vulcan family in high standing in the V’Lar valley region of Vulcan. His father and mother both worked at the science institute and although married for some 130 years were late in having children, preferring to spend their time in study and research which often took them away from Vulcan. His upbringing was unremarkable by Vulcan standards even though both children displayed intellectual strengths in excess of the average Vulcan child and took to their practical and spiritual education with surprising vigour. By the time Salek reached maturity both parents, reaching a respectable age for semi-retirement from their official duties. They took a more relaxed attitude to their work in 'retirement' spending their spare time supplementing Salek and T'Lar's education with their own. It was not completely unusual for Vulcan children to spend a lot of time with their parents but it would be fair to say that during this time Salek had the opportunity to learn more about his parents than he would ordinarily, a factor that only made him work harder so as not to jeopardise their newly found attention towards him. It was discovered early on that Salek had a highly developed aptitude for Science, writing many thought provoking theories on the beginnings of life. He was always keen in his study but would spend much longer than required studying any and all science and engineering related topics that were available and often could be found visiting or gaining practical experience onboard starships that visited Vulcan. It was here that Salek sometimes came into contact with other races for the first time. There were of course Starfleet personnel on Vulcan but there had never been any need to interact with them. Fascinated by the various people Salek met, some of which would return many times to the point he would consider them friends he for the first time considered finding a career that would take him away from Vulcan. Eventually Salek finalized his official tutoring and joined Vulcan's Science Institute. He worked mainly in a scientific capacity but also applied his engineering knowledge in the advanced research department. Here Salek would spend many years working as part of teams designing improvements to many social, domestic and even some starship technologies. He would later be able to put some of their theoretical work into practice with a posting on board the Turak. The Turak had the dubious privilege of serving as a technological test bed for new technologies and Salek’s initial duties were as part of a supervisory team. He worked to integrate new technology and monitor its operation over time during regular use. Once the Turak had finished a lengthy refit he remained in a scientific capacity. Although pleased with his time working on the Turak, Salek was frustrated by the ships limited explorational mandate. Even though he was helping to trial technologies that would eventually see their way into the scientific mainstream he increasingly found he wanted to be part of their use, no longer satisfied with studying the data sent back from deep space exploration missions, usually conducted by Starfleet. The logical step was to apply for a post in Starfleet, a decision he knew would not please his father who was a vocal and staunch protagonist against what he believed was Starfleets seemingly militaristic stance on exploration and expansion. Nearing Salek’s 62nd year he fulfilled his duty and was joined in marriage with his arranged mate, T’Lin. It was not an unpleasant pairing for the two Vulcan and they had known each other since childhood. In typical Vulcan custom they were to remain together on Vulcan for one year before Salek could pursue his ambitions with Starfleet. They also decided that they would wait for children as was their right. It was during that year Salek noticed a difference in his father. It was very slight at first and his mother did her best to deflect his queries but it became apparent that something was very wrong. There was something more to the strain in their relationship than his application to Starfleet. He would go several weeks at a time without seeing his father yet no matter how much he asked little was spoken of it. Aged 63 Salek’s application to Starfleet was accepted and he left Vulcan and for the very first time arrived on Earth to attend the academy, specialising in the field of science although his curiosity would see him widen his knowledge to as many fields of Starfleet operation as he could practically study. During this time he remained on Earth and it would be over four years before he would see Vulcan again. He returned to Vulcan on the completion of his training, while he waited for orders and rather than it being the pleasing occasion he had hoped for he learned that his father had almost completely withdrawn and no longer wished to see him. Taking it as a slight Salek remained on Vulcan only long enough to gather his things for his first posting to the USS Ardent. The USS Ardent, newly commissioned in 2374 is a Nova class planetary research science vessel. Salek joined in a time of relative peace in the Federation, just before the end of the Dominion war. Considering himself fortunate not to be drawn into a war during his first assignment the Ardent instead spend some time in the Gamma quadrant on an exploration mission.
Service Record		2374 - 2378 : USS Ardent – Asst. Science Officer