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Background:
Shortly before his sixth birthday, Jack's parents died in a shuttle crash. His parents left a will that he be placed in the care of his fathers friend, Sadek.
A research astrophysicist, Sadek took Jack with him into space. Jack received hands on training in piloting and navigation and was instructed in many of the Vulcan mind disciplines. During this time, Jack also learned of the circumstances surrounding his parents' death. Although Sadek made painstaking attempts at curbing Jack's growing hatred for all Klingons. He never quite succeeded.
When the Betazoid sun went into its normal period of intense solar flares, Sadek decided Jack should learn more about his own people and arranged for him to spend time on the world he was a part of but as yet, had never seen. Jack was fourteen years old. He remained on Betazed for 3.5 years learning of his culture and receiving exceptional training which served to compliment what he had already learned from Sadek. He learned that he possessed many strengths inherent to all Betazoids but, he also had to contend with many of the emotional weakness his race is prone to.
Continually in communication with Sadek, Jack sent subspace messages to his guardian on a regular basis. He would tell Sadek of his progress and of his life on Betazed. Jack was finding himself. He was pleased with how recent events were transpiring and he was learning to let go of the hate he fostered for the Klingons
At the age of seventeen, Jack expressed a desire to return to space and continue working alongside his friend, mentor and father figure. Sadek was pleased. He had come to value Jack's input and, with the recent proposal Sadek had received from the Daystrom Institute for a planetary assignment, he knew another field scientist would be of great help.
Sadek's ship was stationed in geosynchronous orbit around a medium sized, class M world. The entire team had been working for weeks running sensor scans on the unique ecosystem of the planet. It was almost an idilic setting. Jack and Sadek had elected to remain until well after sunset to investigate the unusual life readings coming from an area where mineral deposits made long range scans impossible when they were attacked by a rogue and quite insane Klingon. Unprepared, Jack and Sadek engaged the warrior in hand to hand combat. In the course of the altercation, Sadek was killed with a fatal blow from the Klingon's bat'leth.
Jack knew immediately that his friend, teacher and father figure had perished. He did not need a medical scanner to tell him what his mind knew in an instant. He felt the gentle, inquisitive and formidable mind of Sadek simply wink out of existence.
Jack became enraged. That rage focused itself on the lone Klingon. With Betazoid abilities honed with Vulcan disciplines, he reached into the mind of Sadek's killer. Simultaneously, he took the bat'leth into his own hands and drove it deep into the Klingon's head. The old anger was once again fueled. The old feelings resurfaced. His hatred for the Klingons once again took root.
Jack returned to the small science vessel. His demeanor had changed. He became silent and brooding. He avoided contact with the rest of the small crew with one exception. Maria Nunyez. Maria was the ships medic and botanist. It was her persistence and patience that Jack finally responded to. Jack and Maria fell in love. They continued to work for the Daystrom Institute and somehow, they both felt that Sadek was pleased. They were carrying on with the work Sadek had given his life for.
The next three years passed quickly and Jack and Maria made plans to wed. The small crew aboard the science vessel were ecstatic and the course for Haven, Maria's home world was already laid in when tragedy once again stuck. It was three days before the wedding and Maria had left the ship for a routine data recovery on a previously tagged planet when she was killed by Klingons who were using the planet as a hunting ground. Jack was devastated and vowed that he would never, as long as he lived, befriend a Klingon.
Feeling completely alone, Jack returned to the planet of his birth. It was ten days after Maria's death that Jack applied to and was accepted to Starfleet Academy. He was twenty-one years old and his journey was about to begin anew.
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