Hello, welcome to the personnel file where we look at the career and character of some
of Star Trek’s Iconic characters. This time we are going to be following the path of the
First Ferengi in Starfleet, the tenacious Nog. Like some other characters from Deep
Space Nine, we actually follow most of his Starfleet Career throughout the course of
the show, so in order to flesh out some more of the details I’m going to include a sizeable
amount of extra-canonical sources such as Books, comics and games to fill in the missing
parts. And because the character was just starting
out in their Starfleet career, we will also be looking into the path the character took
as represented in various media. In many way’s Nog, much like his father Rom would have been
swallowed up by the unchecked Ferengi business culture had he not forged his own path.
In 2351, Rom and Prinadora’s families negotiate a marriage contract of 5 years with the goal
of producing an heir and in 2353, Nog was born on Ferenginar.
In 2356 Rom, now besotted with his wife petitioned for a and signed a contract extension with
Prinadora’s father and neglected to notice amendments in the contract that entitled Prinadora’s
family to all of Rom’s wealth. Shortly after in 2358, Prinadora left as her father commanded
and Rom lost his wealth, she also left the 5 year old Nog with her husband.
Rom, now destitute was unable to enrol Nog in Ferengi educational programs and turned
to his brother, Quark for employment. He and his son relocated to Terak Nor in the Bajor
sector and worked in his Bar. In 2366 Nog contracted a Double Helix Virus
which was cured soon thereafter. In 2369, the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor
came to an end and they withdrew from Terak Nor. Bajor requested Federation aid in rebuilding
and the station was renamed Deep Space Nine under joint Federation-Bajoran control.
Commander Benjamin Sisko convinced Quark to stay on the station and with him Rom and Nog.
Nog was taught mostly from home it seems and possessed many Ferengi-taught biases, although
he overcame these and befriended Jake Sisko who taught him how to read.
Nog was also enrolled in Keiko O’Brien DS9 school for further education when that opened
its doors on DS9. In 2371, Nog makes it known to Commander Sisko
that he intends to apply to Starfleet Academy and request that Sisko sponsors his entry
as he is not of a Federation world. Initially refused, Sisko tasks Nog with cargo
inventory to which the young Ferengi diligently accomplishes the task leading Sisko to sponsor
the young man. In 2371, Nog applies to Starfleet Academy
and is accepted. In 2372, en route to Earth, a Time Travel
incident throws Nog, Quark, Rom and Odo back to New Mexico, 1947. This excursion would
be recorded in history as the Roswell incident. On arriving at Earth in the correct time,
Nog Enrolled in SF Academy at the age of 19. From the start, he had made the decision to
work in the Operations Division capitalising on his father’s technical knowhow.
Among his classes he was assigned to Omega Squad alongside Matthew Decker, great-grandson
of Matt Decker, under the command of Commander Kyethn Zund.
During his time at the academy, Nog took the Kobayashi Maru test twice. Once he saved the
Kobayashi-Maru ship at the cost of his own vessel. Unsatisfied with the results, as many
a cadet before him has been, he retook the test.
This time the simulation froze and crashed when he tried to negotiate with the aggressors
instead as the negotiations became too complex and the simulation ended. In this way perhaps
he could be considered as beating the infamous No-Win scenario by stalling the whole system?
He and Omega Squad also faced charges for violating Genreal Order 7, travelling to Talos
4 but they were pardoned due to the extreme circumstances involved.
They also were involved in the Tal Shiar sleeper agent Selke’s attempted infiltration of
Starfleet. In his Sophomore year, 2373, he was assigned
field studies on Deep Space 9. In 2373 the Dominion War erupted and he was
assigned to the USS Defiant NX-74205 under Captain Sisko. Many cadets were given active
roles on the front from Starfleet to bolster its numbers.
In 2374 Cadet Nog was granted a field promotion to Ensign, marking his graduation from Starfleet
Academy. He took part in Operation Return to recapture
the Bajor Sector from Cadrassian-Dominion forces.
During this year Ensign Nog was involved in the loss of the USS Valiant NCC- 74210 at
the hands of the Cadet run Red Squadron. He was one of three survivors.
In 2375 he partook in the Siege of AR-558 and was wounded, when a Jem’Hadar soldier
shot him in the leg. It had to be amputated in triage.
On medical leave, he was fitted with a Bio-synthetic replacement but developed a psychosomatic
limp. He withdrew from society and spent much time
in the Holosuite even considering resigning his commission. He received counselling from
Station Counsellor Ezri Dax and returned to active duty.
He took part in the Second Battle of Chin’toka and the final Battle of the Cardassia Prime
system at the end of the Dominion War In the Aftermath, Captain Sisko recommended
Nog for promotion and in 2376 he was Promoted to Lieutenant . Jr. Grade.
His first duty was as the acting Security Chief of the USS Defaint until a replacement
from Starfleet could be found. He then returned to operations on Deep Space Nine.
In 2377 he was Promoted to Lieutenant. He also Returned to Ferenginar for leave when
his half-sister was born to Grand Nagus Rom and First Lady Leeta.
Around 2382 he was promoted to Lt Commander (?) and reassigned, we don’t have an exact
date. He was assigned as the Head of Security to
the Starfleet Engineering Corps vessel, USS Challenger NCC- 71099, a vessel designed to
field test and innovate Starfleet technologies. This was a posting he actively campaigned
for as he wished for the experience on a relatively renowned vessel to further his career under
Captain Montgomery Scott. This posting was a strong merger of his training as a soldier
and his Starfleet technical career. In 2384 he transferred back to Deep Space
Nine as the Chief Engineer. He was briefly reassigned to Starfleet Intelligence
to join the Active Four Taskgroup after the assassination of Federation President Nanietta
Bacco until its duty had been fulfilled. In 2389 he was Promoted to Commander. (This
is a speculative date based on alternate reality versions of Nog so may not be wholly accurate.)
In 2396, Geordi LaForge transferred to Captain the USS Challenger, and Nog transferred to
the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E as chief engineer in 2397.
In 2405 the Third Klingon-Federation War erupted and at this time, Commander Nog was working
at Utopia Planetia. By 2409, Nog was Promoted to captain and chosen
to command the new Chimera class prototype, the USS Chimera NX-97400. This too was a vessel
produced by the Starfleet Corp of Engineers and I suspect as Nog was working at Utopic
Planetia, he may have had a hand in its development, especially as Starfleet has a documented habit
of assigning captains to oversee the construction of their vessel when available.
In early 2409, Captain Nog rescues the crew of a vessel during a training mission from
Klingon Aggressors. He was also present when the Borg assimilated
the Federation colony world of Vega and proceeded to see combat during the Iconian War of 2410.
This is where even the memory Beta timeline for Captain Nog ends, but I feel that it’s
a well-earned position, with him in command of his own SCE Vessel, a prototype of its
class and having successfully fused his chosen career of operations with his duty-bound service
as a soldier. The very fact that he was the first Ferengi in Starfleet is said to have
inspired many other Ferengi to join after the organisation widened its recruitment policies
and he became somewhat of a poster for the ideal that a person’s actions dictate their
position in life, not the circumstances of their birth. At least when granted the opportunity.
As mentioned in the intro and in the show, Nog very much wanted to join Starfleet as
a way out of a culture that he felt was in ill fit for his talents. At a disadvantage
when compared to other Ferengi from his family’s destitute status, he was unlikely to ever
progress far in their commercially driven society so had begun to put his tenacity and
scheming nature towards more nefarious exploits, often using his uncle’s connections or influence
combined with his inherited technical knowhow. His street smarts would have been a boon to
him and his family while Terak Nor was under the ownership of the Cardassian Union and
its not pleasant to imagine the sort of environment that he would have to have grown up in.
It could be argued that Jake Sisko’s friendship and influence showed Nog that he had another
path to walk, one where he could aim his talents towards something productive, but it was Nog
himself that had put in the effort and conviction behind his actions. The choice to join was
ultimately his own. When a part of Starfleet, he eagerly sought
to do honour the faith he had earned from Commander Sisko by trying hard and seeking
to be a model Starfleet Cadet, both on duty and off. This led to a seeming drastic shift
in character for the young man as he tried to justify, to himself and others, his place
in the Federation despite the concern it bought from the more traditional Ferengi family.
He treated others with respect and in turn expected that same consideration, occasionally
even squaring up to those who he found disrespectful. If we look at his progression as depicted
after the series closed out, we can see that his actions, assignments and eventual position
seem to mark out a clear goal. He remains circling in the divisions of Security, Operations
and Engineering taking advantage of all the Gold Uniform has to offer, but it doesn’t
seem to be aimless. He tried to operate from Deep Space Nine as frequently as he could,
returning to the station many times for extended periods and pursuing assignments away from
his home turf only for specific roles, such as his tenure aboard the USS Challenger and
the Enterprise in his later life. Of course the biggest event in his life was
his wounding during the Dominion War. The damage done to him repaired physically, it
nonetheless shattered his ambition and that same conviction that had driven him to take
those steps into Starfleet in the first place. Being so suddenly confronted with mortality
in such a way, it’s understandable that he would choose to withdraw, to hide from
the world and falls to those friends around him to try to rescue him. Those around him
were there because of the respect and eagerness he conveyed and their desire to keep his ideals
aflame even through his most cynical times. It seems fitting that he is able to reconcile
his time as a soldier with his career, a story reflective of the trauma many an officer would
have to and will go through. Although, as said, a lot of these stories are content outside
of the official canon and merely from licenced works, I think that these tales continued
the legacy established by a talented actor and in these stories, the man lives forever.
Some excellent episodes featuring him are “Heart of Stone” where the B plot has
Nog’s motivations for joining Starfleet laid out, the gripping and gritty siege of
Ar-558 is a strong depiction of the harsh reality that the idealistic cadet finds himself
thrust into as well as the follow-up recovery episode, “It’s Only a Paper Moon” but
I’d also recommend the “Valiant” episode to see an alternative to being “out of their
depth”. Thank you for watching this file on the life
of Nog from Deep Space nine. I wanted to make this video sooner, but didn’t want to come
off, I dunno …as trying to capitalise on events. It’s a poor tribute but I hope it’s
something. Thanks again for watching and until next time,
goodbye.