Commodore Stephen MacCaffery
Name Stephen James MacCaffery
Position Federation Envoy
Second Position Adjunct Professor
Rank Commodore
Character Information
| Gender | Male | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 59 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 188 cm (6'2") | |
| Weight | 86 kg (190 lbs) | |
| Hair Color | Iron-and-ash gray, kept in a neat, close-cropped style. | |
| Eye Color | Grey-blue | |
| Physical Description | He has a broad-shouldered, solid, lean but athletic build, maintaining good physical condition for his age through consistent, low-impact exercise. His fair skin shows a hint of reddening at the cheekbones. His face is a longer oval with a pronounced brow and well-defined nose, typically expressing attentive neutrality with laugh lines suggesting humor. He has grey-blue eyes with a steady, direct gaze, which softens in informal settings. His hair is iron-and-ash gray, kept in a neat, close-cropped style, and he sports a meticulously trimmed professorial beard with a deep gray streak. Distinguishing marks include a small crescent-shaped scar behind his left ear from an early career shuttle incident, and a faint, well-healed scar on his right thumb from a youthful kitchen knife accident. |
Family
| Spouse | Vice Admiral Sidra MacLaren | |
| Children | William “Will” James MacCaffery (Age 15) | |
| Father | James Alexander MacCaffery | |
| Mother | Abigail Morgan MacCaffery (née Dunross) | |
| Brother(s) | None |
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| Sister(s) | Fiona Abigail MacLeod (née MacCaffery) | |
| Other Family | Brother-in-law Damien MacLeod; nephew Ewan; niece Eirys Cousins Viktor and Ian Dunross (both retired admirals), and Alistair Dunross (CEO, Dunross Consortium) |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | A quietly charismatic, “professorial” former JAG flag officer, Stephen leads with steadiness, curiosity, and a craftsman’s respect for process. He believes fairness is something you build, not feel, and he’s most persuasive when rooms are tense, de-escalating with precise language and patient listening. In public, he’s reserved; in private he’s warm, wry, and unabashedly domestic (apron on, kettle on). He partners seamlessly with his spouse, Vice Admiral Sidra MacLaren, serving as ballast to her velocity, and parents with gentle, consistent boundaries. Ethically meticulous (recusal walls, clean paper trails), he’s known for the disarming tactic of feigning minor incompetence before revealing a perfectly prepared brief. Physically, he carries a presence at 6'2", with a salt-and-iron, streaked professorial beard; affect reads as attentive neutrality softened by genuine kindness. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | Strengths
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| Ambitions | Ambitions Protect the Ordinary: Safeguard a season of unremarkable, good days—shared dinners, unhurried walks, family intact. Teach the Craft: Keep lecturing and mentoring so the next bench knows how to be both lawful and humane. Access to Justice (Frontier): Seed practical legal-aid frameworks and evidence protocols where starbases are thin. Build Durable Rules: Codify humane ROE/treaty annexes that reduce misfires and needless casualties. Guard the Line: Push back—quietly but firmly—against “urgency” used to erode rule of law. |
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| Hobbies & Interests | Serious Cooking: Stocks, breads, and knife care; believes “the table is the first settlement conference.” Signature dish: cullen skink. Music for Restoration: Longform cello compositions and late-night piano while reading. Reading & Study: Mystery/crime fiction, forensic journals, legal history; margin notes in a leather folio. Walks on Station: Lap the ring of Starbase 369; uses the circuit to think and reset. Mentoring & Games: Teaches probability and strategy through board games with his son and junior officers. Analog Habits: Fountain-pen letters (especially condolences and thank-yous); keeps a small herb planter for fresh kitchen use. Range & Quals (Light): Maintains sidearm qualification and scene-preservation skills, but rarely carries. |
| Personal History | Stephen James MacCaffery was born in New Edinburgh, Scotland (United Earth), to parents who taught that work should leave a place kinder than you found it. He grew up between sea wind and open-air markets, learning early that a well-set table could coax adversaries into conversation. After law school and a clerkship with a famously principled appellate judge, he served five years as a circuit judge, earning a reputation for rulings written in full sentences and explanations that let the losing side keep its dignity. Family and corporate entanglements in the wider Dunross clan, most pointedly a strained relationship with cousin Alistair, pushed Stephen to seek cleaner lanes for service. He accepted a commission in Starfleet’s JAG Corps, rotating through frontier circuits as both trial and defense counsel before moving to operational law on joint task forces near volatile borders. His craft matured in three arenas: clarifying rules of engagement that reduced misfires, designing evidence/chain-of-custody practices units could actually follow, and negotiating face-saving settlements (the “harmless commodore” act that disarms a room, then closes with a decisive clause). A tour as Director of Internal Affairs produced durable whistleblower protections; his final billet as Deputy JAG for Gamma Fleet saw him supervising complex investigations and extraditions while mentoring the next bench. He married Vice Admiral Sidra MacLaren during his flag years, establishing strict two-wall recusals whenever their lanes might cross. As a father, he prized steadiness and small rituals over speeches. Retiring from active duty at Commodore, Stephen relocated with Sidra to Starbase 369 (Epsilon Fleet HQ), where he consults on select mediations for Starfleet and the Council and lectures at the JAG School. His present focus is practical justice at the edges, legal-aid frameworks for frontier worlds, evidence protocols that prevent avoidable harm, and a quieter personal vow: keep the hands busy, keep the room gentle, and never let urgency erode the law that protects the vulnerable. |