- For other uses, see Jack.
- See Thompson for other articles with titles that contain, either by relationship or by coincidence, this character's surname.
Jack Thales Thompson was an Alpha Centauran Starfleet lieutenant commander in the 23rd century. He was described as having a medium build, black hair, and green eyes. (FASA RPG module: The Strider Incident)
History[]
Jack Thompson was born to a family of bankers on the Dorthican continent, on a planet in the Alpha Centauri system. However, Jack decided to go against their example, and leave to join Starfleet instead. He has since lost contact with his family, which can leave him feeling guilty at times.
After graduating, he served aboard the USS Gandalf for two years, the USS Windride for five years, and the USS Longsight for two years.
On reference stardate 1/9909.09, Thompson received a grade reduction after being charged with "drunk and disorderly conduct".
On reference stardate 2/1001.01, he was charged with 'conduct unbecoming an officer'. By reference stardate 2/18, his record personnel record took specific note that Thompson often refuses to follow orders if he feels they are in the wrong.
Eventually, he was stationed on the USS Strider as Helmsman, under Captain Kristine Reardon. Sometime during his time on the Strider, Thompson became romantically involved with Lieutenant Lori Desmonal. On reference stardate 2/1808, The Strider received a Code Red 1-A emergency transmission on secure Federation channels. Understanding its classified nature, Captain Reardon took the message personally, then relayed the message to the other members of Task Force 13 - the USS Vidal and the USS Clark. While Captain Reardon did attempt to not let others hear the classified transmission, Thompson still picked up some parts of it. The task force departed for the Stogar system, as ordered. Since the Stogar system was inside the Organian Neutral Zone, this would have been an act of war, in peacetime, but now, the Federation was at war, and they followed orders.
When the task force arrived in the Stogar System, they hid an an asteroid belt, awaiting Task Force 19, who were supposed to be arriving as backup. However, the ships were detected by a group of five Klingon D7-M battlecruisers, which significantly outmatched and outgunned the three Ranger-class ships. Understanding they stood no chance, Captain Reardon ordered the task force to turn and leave the system. However, the battlecruisers caught up to the Clark and the Vidal, destroying both ships. Captain Reardon barely managed to save the Strider from total destruction, but the ship still took heavy damage, including multiple hull breaches, severe damage to the ship's computer, non-functional weapons, warp coolant leaks in engineering, and a direct hit to a nacelle. Fearing the worst, Captain Reardon ejected the ship's logs in a buoy, and engaged the warp engines at maximum, in a last-ditch effort to save the ship's failing engines from destroying themselves. The Strider escaped, but was barely holding together. The ship was so badly damaged it could only sustain warp one, and had lost a great deal of its crew. Captain Reardon ordered the ship back to Defense Outpost 1121 for emergency repairs.
On reference stardate 2/1808.28, the Strider made it back to Outpost 1121, and instantly questioned where the additional security forces, that should be required by wartime procedure, were. The Outpost's commander, Captain Carl Curtis, hailed the Strider, asking why Reardon had returned from its mission early. As soon as Reardon said she had engaged the Klingons, Curtis beamed over security officers and arrested the entire crew for treason, as the Federation was not at war - unless the Strider had just started one.
After Kristine Reardon was arrested, and took full responsibility for the actions of her crew, Thompson was temporarily reassigned to Defense Outpost 1121. When he learned the crew of the USS Lexington was investigating the incident, Stoan led Thompson, and several other members of the Strider crew, to come forward, and share what they knew. Thompson also made sure to ask for relevant information from the Lexington officers as well.
Several days later, Jack Thompson asked for a meeting with the captain of the Lexington, Grant Franklin. In a off-the-records meeting in Franklins quarters, Thompson made a case that Captain Reardon was being framed, and managed to convince Captain Franklin of a plan for the crew of the Strider - and the Lexington if they chose to join - to break Reardon out of prison, and clear her name. The plan also necessitated commandeering the Strider, the only currently-warp-capable ship at the station. Captain Franklin, and several of his crew, agreed to the plan.
26 hours after departing from the station, a jailbroken Captain Reardon in tow, the Strider arrived in the Stogar system, and fell into a trap laid by the IKV Bloodsteel. Captains Reardon and Franklin were able to negotiate for the buoy they had come for, in spite of Thompson's continued advice to attack the Klingons instead. Eventually, the Bloodsteel let the Strider go, at the border to the Neutral Zone - though it would continue to follow them the rest of the way back to the outpost, cloaked. After arriving back at the Outpost, Captain Franklin and the crews were instrumental in the unmasking of Commodore Harmonson as a Klingon agent, and proving the Strider's crew only ever did what they were supposed to. Several weeks later, Commodore Astak arrived to review the incident. Thompson, and the rest of the Strider crew, were formally cleared of all charges. (FASA RPG module: The Strider Incident)
- Note: Jack Thompson has a dedicated section in the gamemaster's "Special Considerations" section of the book. This paragraph encourages for Jack to be portrayed as a troublemaker, and used to lead players to poor choices, and throw them off the mark.