Editing John de Lancie (section)

== Background ==
John had a promising career in Starfleet ahead of him. He was intelligent, charismatic, and driven. Nobody ever doubted that he would one day become an officer and eventually command a prestigious ship.

Then one day, everything went wrong.

An entity from the Q-Continuum made contact with a Federation starship. In order to facilitate contact it took on the exact form of an arbitrarily chosen Starfleet member, something that would seem trusted and familiar to the crew of that ship. That form happened to be John's. 

Ever since, he's been met with horror, hostility, and doubt. (Several years later he was even assaulted by Captain Benjamin Sisko at an intelligence briefing during the Dominion War.) It become immediately apparent that any chances of a normal career had evaporated. He was forced to work behind the scenes, desk work for Starfleet Intelligence. It wasn't ''bad'' work. Not at all. In fact, he's proud of the many lives he's indirectly saved during the war. Still... he was meant for more and never could shake that feeling.

When the Eclipse-project began he signed on as a consultant for the design teams, advising on the technical needs and conditions in which the ship would have to operate. But the brass recognized talent when they saw it. Soon enough he was promoted to captain of the prototype NX vessel, taking full advantage of his officer training.

For all his talents and knowledge of the ''USS Eclipse'' though, John knows that he's never had a command position like this before. The burden of command weighs on him.