History
Yocum's childhood was one of constant travelling from starship to starbase and/or starship, due to his father's career in Starfleet. Those years, the first dozen of his life, instilled in him self-discipline that is so crucial to Starfleet survival. They also caused him to be a reserved person until after he's ready to be a friend.
Upon reaching high school, however, that reservation fell to the wayside for one person, Jean McCrea. The two teenagers were instantly attracted to each other, and were nearly inseparable for the four years of high school, and even took the SFA entrance exam together. The two were engaged when they arrived at the Academy, and even found time for each other between the various classes they had.
Even with the heady distraction of love, Yocum was still the top engineering cadet in the class of 2364, and even challenged himself more by taking a minor in command. Those two things, plus nearly beating the Kobayashi Maru without cheating, combined to earn him a promotion to Lieutenant (j.g) upon graduation in 2364.
Upon graduation, Yocum was assigned to the Miranda-class USS Saratoga, where he instantly became a valued engineer on the aging vessel. His constant tweaking of the systems over a two-year span earned him a promotion to full Lieutenant just three months before Wolf 359.
Only a month after being rescued with the other survivors of 359, Yocum found himself assigned to the Galaxy-class USS Constitution, being given a reason of 'It'll help you recover' when he asked why. The reasoning wasn't clear, until he beamed aboard and met Captain Tiyo Soya, who reunited the young lieutenant with the only person who could've helped him through the pain, now Lieutenant Jean McCrea, Yocum's fiancée.
Yocum was quickly given the posting of assistant chief engineer, and recovered fairly quickly, due to the calming influence of his fiancée, whom he married four months after coming aboard. Within a year of arrival, he was 'promoted' to chief engineer when the former chief moved on. In 2368, he was promoted to Lt. Commander, due to programming in a permanently rotation shield modulation and upgrading the entire ship to work at 15% above ratings, which actually increased shield strength by 22%. The same year also saw his family increase, when he and Jean were blessed with a daughter, named Stephanie.
Three years later (2371), due to personnel changeover and such, Yocum was put in the XO slot of the Constitution and promoted to Commander, after attending a command school to ensure he was ready to take command of the ship. He was the Constitution's acting CO many times, as Captain Soya would often be needed on diplomatic duties, and would not take the Galaxy-class ship with him on those missions.
In April 2372, Yocum was critically wounded and nearly died during an away mission to Ohitaka VII, and still bears the scars as a reminder to be cautious in everything he does. During the recovery from the injuries, he was assigned to assist the Sovereign project, which was building the last three of the first run of five. He asked Captain Soya, 'off-line', for a reasoning, and the Captain told him that he saw potential for the Commander to earn a fourth pip.
Yocum eagerly assisting in building the last three of that production run, but had already put in a request to be assigned to that fifth vessel, not realizing that Captain Soya had already submitted the request for his XO to be promoted and given a ship of his own. Thusly, only four years after making Commander, Yocum was promoted to Captain and put in command of the USS Shadowcat, which he christened himself.
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