2375: Combat Action

2378: Commandant's Letter of Commendation

2380: Starfleet Academy Graduate

2381: Purple Heart

Use of Excessive Force

2366 – 2368: Officer Training Program - Calumar Base, Talaria III

2368: Security Officer, Calumar Base, Talaria III

2370: Operations Officer, Talarian Freighter Fanaxis, Alpha Quadrant

2374: Acting Ensign, Security – USS Ulysses Grant

2380: Survival Training Instructor, Starfleet Academy

2382: Leave of Absence

2382: Assigned, Ensign, Operations - USS Ulysses Grant

Born on the Talarian homeworld, Keldan was born the fourth son of Bryn, a highly decorated warship captain, and Sanara, the daughter of wealthy Talarian admiralty. As per Talarian tradition, at the age of four he was life-bonded with Triest, the daughter of a wealthy Talarian merchant. Unlike most life-bondings, in time Keldan and Triest developed a deep relationship with one another that continued to grow, even after Keldan departed for his military training.

Until the age of six, Keldan was raised alongside his older brothers who had not yet left for the beginning of their military schooling. The youngest of four boys, Keldan often came out on the losing end of their fights and arguments.

Keldan's home in the remote Naressa Province gave him a great respect and fascination for the wilderness, and the many dangers that it contained. While still a young child, he often disappeared into the forested mountains for days or weeks at a time.

As with all Talarian males, at the age of six Keldan began his military training. It emphasized athleticism and physical prowess as much as the development of his skills in strategic planning and military execution. He quickly found he excelled in the former, with a high aptitude for sports requiring strength and endurance. Unfortunately, his first term in officer training school was rather lackluster, much to the chagrin of his father.

Keldan refocused his strengths into a military career path that was better suited to him, steering away from the intense focus on a command position his father had wanted for him, to one oriented toward security and operations support. While he found this ultimately more satisfying, it also created a rift between himself and his father and older brothers. And events were unfolding that would widen the rift even further.

The increased threat posed by the Dominion to the political stability of the region became a heated point of debate throughout the echelons of the Talarian military hierarchy. Refusing to be cowed by his father or older brothers, he openly debated the importance of a possible future Federation alliance against the Dominion. While his brothers and father argued against aiding those who had been their enemies, Keldan countered by asking what they thought would happen to Talaria when the Dominion had destroyed and enslaved the worlds of the Federation. When his eldest brother gravely insulted him by accusing him of supporting a woman's prerogative (and conincidentally, that of Triest, his bondmate), he could barely be restrained in the ensuing melee. Disgusted at his family's attitudes and knowing that a fourth-born's chances of seeing service aboard a warship with his poor academic record were next to nothing, Keldan requested a transfer to a position as an operations officer aboard a Talarian freighter running the Talaria-Trill-Bajor trade route. He wanted to see firsthand how the galaxy really worked beyond Talarian space.

It didn't take long for him to find out. When open hostilities broke out between the Federation and the Dominion, the safety of the shipping lanes were the first casualties of the war. The freighter Fanaxis, to which Keldan had been assigned, came under heavy fire during a Jem'Hadar attack. Keldan kept himself and five others alive for two weeks before they were rescued by the passing USS Ulysses Grant, which had also taken heavy damage in a recent battle. Keldan and his companions offered their service in repayment of saving their lives until they could be returned to Talaria III. Keldan continued on as the only Talarian serving on a Federation starship up until the end of the Dominion War. Having made many new friends and comrades-in-arms aboard ship, his commanding officer, Captain Genossa, offered to sponsor him at Starfleet Academy.

Keldan attended two years at Starfleet's Delthara Academy Campus on Alpha Centauri IV, earning passing grades in his general curriculum classes but excelling remarkably in tactical, operations, and security training. His studies focused intensely on survival training both in and out of the classroom, and he received a commendation for his eagerness and persistence in bringing his own experience to bear in an effort to challenge and improve the survival training curriculum.

Upon his graduation, he was offered a position as a survival training instructor at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco on Earth. Captain Genossa urged him to consider the position, telling him there would always be a position waiting for him onboard the Ulysses Grant.

For three years he served as a field instructor, earning a reputation as one of the hardest teachers any cadet had the misfortune of getting, with training exercises that constantly kept the Academy's finest on their toes. In 2381, however, that changed when a group of his cadets fell into a crevasse while conducting field research on the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica . Against orders he repelled into the crevasse in an attempt to locate and rescue the missing cadets. The crevasse had become increasingly more unstable and only the cadets were able to beam out to safety before it collapsed. Keldan was found two days later, having kept himself awake and alive in a veritable prison of ice, suffering from severe hypothermia, multiple skeletal fractures and impact trauma.

Keldan spent almost three months recovering from his injuries, after which time he decided to leave the Academy and take an operations position aboard the Ulysses Grant. He served less than a year before Captain Genossa was offered a promotion. Keldan's new commanding officer had served during the Talarian Wars, and apparently held considerable animosity toward him. That animosity came to a head during an incident in which Keldan was forced to destroy the Shuttlecraft Missouri to keep it from falling into the hands of Federation separatists. Keldan's comrades aboard the Ulysses Grant urged him to seek a transfer for his own interests and the interests of his continued career in Starfleet.