Template:MemoryZeta:Featured Article/September 2009

Lieutenant Jabari-Nkosana Brooks-Mitchell is the Commander, Air-Group of the Akira-class USS Pegasus.

Jabari-Nkosana Brooks-Mitchell was born to then Petty Officer Second Class Kevin Mitchell and Siobhan Brooks. They had known each other since high school. PO2 Mitchell was an aircrewman with a Starfleet fighter squadron. During one of his shoreleaves, Kevin and Siobhan conceived a child. Although he was there for Jabari-Nkosana's birth, Kevin’s relationship with Siobhan was no longer intimate. They remained friends and shared joint custody of Jabari-Nkosana. For three to six months out of a year, Jabari lived with his father. Shortly after Jabari-Nkosana was born, his father had a child by another woman, his half-sister, Raiyn. If they were lucky, their time spent with their father would overlap. They became very close. Jabari and Raiyn shared their father’s love of aviation and space flight. His father took for his first flight and he’d be forever hooked. While Raiyn was afforded the opportunity to take flight lessons, Jabari was content to construct and fly models.

Jabari earned his nickname in school. Whenever classmates heard his full name, he usually had to explain the whole origin of his unique name. Seeing as all his names were hyphenated, friends called him “Hyphen” instead of wrestling with the pronunciation of his name. While growing up, Jabari was small for his age. He was athletically inclined and was a slightly above average student. He was active in track and field, swimming and wrestling. He was usually underestimated for his size. Through all his athletic commitments, Jabari still made time to play in his high school band. Although he was socially adept, he didn’t have too many close friends. His closest friend was Raiyn and she lived on Mars. His uncle, Michael, introduced him to jazz at a young age and he took to it like it was the one thing missing from his life. He learned to play the saxophone. As he became more proficient, he noticed the balance that music brought to his world. He didn’t think he could find anything he loved as much as flying. He would seek out rhythm in all things and try to accompany it with his music. Once Emmai reached high school, he’d begun his growth spurt. By the time he graduated, he’d topped six feet in height and doubled his weight.

After graduation, Jabari made a decision that surprised both his parents. His father thought Jabari would pursue a career in Starfleet, following in his footsteps. His mother thought he would attend college. Jabari, instead, got a gig playing saxophone with his uncle’s jazz band in Chicago. He loved his music but he still loved flying. After about two years his father came to see Jabari perform. While talking over some drinks, Jabari found out that his sister was applying to Starfleet Academy to be a fighter pilot. Jabari applied the next day.