Template:Sidebar character Admiral Owen Paris was a senior Starfleet official, the former captain of the starship USS Al-Batani, and the father of Tom Paris. (VOY: "Caretaker")
His major contribution is in command of the Pathfinder Project and its follow up, Operation Watson, which developed major advances in long range communication to successfully reestablish contact with the lost Starfleet vessel, USS Voyager.
History
Owen Paris held several high ranking posts in Starfleet from Captain to Admiral, but also had a family: he was married and had children. (VOY: "Time and Again", "Endgame")
- It can be assumed he had at least two children as in "Time and Again", Tom says his father used to preach to us about the Prime Directive. And in "Endgame", Tom suggests to B'Elanna that they could go live with "[his] parents" after Voyager got home.
Owen was an instructor at Starfleet Academy, having taught his son's course on Survival Strategies, in the 2360s. Owen did not play favorites with his son as his student, giving Tom a "B-minus", overall, in the course. (VOY: "Parturition") Owen often pressured Tom to excel in everything he did, frequently making his son feel inadequate. He continuously talked about the Prime Directive to Paris and other Starfleet officers. To him, the Prime Directive was one of the leading principles in space exploration. (VOY: "Time and Again")
As Captain of the USS Al-Batani, Kathryn Janeway served under him on the Arias Expedition. Later when Janeway was assigned Captain of the starship USS Voyager, she read the file of Paris' son Thomas, and wanted him to come on Voyager's first mission as observer to help navigate the badlands. She later brought up her past service with Owen Paris when she went to meet Tom at the Penal colony he was serving time at in New Zealand. (VOY: "Caretaker") Before meeting with Paris, she ran the idea past Admiral Patterson, who recognized the name as "Admiral Paris' son." (VOY: "Relativity")
Pathfinder
In 2376, he was overseeing the Pathfinder Project at Starfleet's Communications Research Center, which was aimed at establishing communications with the starship USS Voyager stranded in the Delta Quadrant. He had an office where he did his work, with his secretary Nicole. As the Admiral overseeing the Pathfinder Project, Commander Peter Harkins reported directly to him, and he visited for inspections on progress routinely.
During one inspection in 2376, Admiral Paris was being briefed on new plans underway using the MIDAS Array by Commander Harkins when Lieutenant Reginald Barclay interrupted the presentation. He made a spectacle about a micro-wormhole they may be able to create, and get real-time communication with Voyager. Harkins shot down the idea, but Barclay later went around him directly to the Admiral at his office, "scaring [his] secretary." The Admiral agreed to look over his findings, and sent him away.
When Paris tried to contact Barclay to say his findings may have merit, he was disappointed to find that Barclay had tried to go along with them without authorization. Before he could punish him however, the communications signal went through and Voyager was responding. Admiral Paris was able to reassure Captain Janeway they were still working to bring them home, and had Barclay send tactical and communication updates before the link ended. (VOY: "Pathfinder")
Admiral Paris and Commanders Troi and Harkins question Leosa in his office
Several months later in 2377, after two months of datastreams to Voyager failing to send a complex hologram, he was called in regards to a breach of Pathfinder security. Along with Counselor Deanna Troi and Commander Harkins, they questioned a woman named Leosa about the loss of the Barclay hologram. Leosa claimed to be a teacher while dating Barclay, but was in fact working for the Ferengi, and though she claimed she knew nothing about it, Admiral Paris theorized that the Ferengi some how found a way to profit from the hologram and she was in on it. His theory later proved correct, when she revealed the ship though not its plan. Admiral Paris then ordered Captain Peterson of the USS Carolina to a red giant star in sector 39542 grid 8, proceeding at maximum warp to apprehend the Ferengi. (VOY: "Inside Man")
Later that year, he was at Pathfinder labs for the testing of Operation Watson - which allowed for 11 minutes of daily contact with Voyager. Days later, Lieutenant Barclay confronted him about a holoprogram he'd become aware of that depicted the Voyager crew in an unflattering light. The Admiral immediately contacted Captain Janeway about it, and a legal battle soon ensued. He sat in at the Federation judicial arbitration between Voyager's EMH "the Doctor" and Ardon Broht of Broht & Forrester Publishers, over the Doctor's rights to own property. (VOY: "Author, Author")
Admiral Paris welcomes Voyager home
While he and several other Admirals were at the Project Pathfinder labs, Barclay reported that their sensors detected a Borg transwarp conduit opening less than a lightyear from Earth. Fearing another Borg invasion attempt, he ordered all available ships to converge on the coordinates of the conduit. Commanding the fleet of 18 ships, with 9 more on the way, he ordered for them to use all necessary force to stop any Borg ships. A Borg sphere eventually emerged, but began to explode on its own and Paris ordered the fleet to hold their fire as the sphere exploded, with Voyager emerging triumphantly from the wreckage. Admiral Paris hailed Voyager immediately, to welcome them home. (VOY: "Endgame")
Appendices
Appearances
- VOY:
- "Persistence of Vision" (illusion)
- "Thirty Days" (voice only)
- "Pathfinder"
- "Inside Man"
- "Author, Author"
- "Endgame"
Background
Admiral Paris appeared wearing the rank insignia of a 3-star or Vice Admiral in "Persistence of Vision", then a 4-star Admiral in "Pathfinder", then 3-star again in "Inside Man." This could mean he was a Vice Admiral before Voyager left, and promoted while they were in the Delta Quadrant to full Admiral. The change to "Inside Man" was likely a costuming mistake, or he could have been demoted. But later in both "Author, Author" and "Endgame" he wears the four star insignia again.
Apocrypha
Star Trek: Voyager co-creater Jeri Taylor's two novels Mosaic and Pathways explore Captain Janeway's early career, especially her time on the Al-Batani with Captain Owen Paris, during the Arias Expedition. In the non-canon novels, the two met in 2355 when she still in Starfleet Academy, eventually handpicking her for his ship and the mission.
Several novels expand on his family and ancestry as well. In Serpents Among the Ruins, his father Michael Thomas Paris is a character, and Owen's mother Victoria Santos is referenced. The Star Trek: Stargazer novel series features Owen Paris' brother Cole, who was a crewmate of Jean-Luc Picard during his command of that vessel. And the Strange New Worlds IV story "Uninvited Admirals" names Owen's wife (and Tom's mother) Lucinda.
In the Voyager Relaunch novel "Homecoming", Owen and his wife (there named Julia) allow Paris, Torres and Miral to live with them after they return - as suggested in "Endgame."
External links
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