Lieutenant Michael Amato
Name Michael Giovanni Amato
Position Medical Officer
Rank Lieutenant
Character Information
| Gender | Male | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 25 | |
| Birthdate | March 19, 2243 | |
| Aliases / Nicknames | Mike, Mikey | |
| Theme Song | "Paint It Black" (1966) - The Rolling Stones |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 6' 3" | |
| Weight | 180 | |
| Hair Color | Brown | |
| Eye Color | Green | |
| Physical Description | Mike has a youthful, fair complexion with a subtle hint of weariness etched into his features, a byproduct of his medical career and recent events. His green eyes hold a steady, alert gaze which contracts his usual bored demeanor. While normally subdued, of animated his smile can light up a room. Keeps himself fit through his years of martial arts and calisthenics training. Off duty, Mike dresses with the same practical confidence he brings to most things: clean, youthful and athletic without looking overly considered. He favors well-fitting T-shirts, polos, casual button downs and simple trousers or shorts in navy, black, olive, grey and other muted colors, usually paired with straightforward sneakers or boots. He appreciates quality but has little interest in fashion as a hobby; if something fits well, works and looks good, he is inclined to keep wearing it. His best clothes have an easy, slightly sporty sophistication. While having seemingly expensive tastes, nothing he wears appears overly fussy or obviously expensive. Accessories are similarly restrained: an Omega Aqua Terra with a black dial and stainless braclet, black Persol PO3307S sunglasses with green lenses paired with a subtle fragrance. The overall effect is attractive largely because it seems natural to him rather than constructed. |
Family
| Spouse/Partner | Ensign Toby Dienstag | |
| Father | CPO Joseph "Joe" Amato (ret.) | |
| Mother | Elena Amato | |
| Brother(s) | Lieutenant Commander Joseph Amato (Deceased) |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | Mike often appears tired, bored or mildly irritated, but he is considerably more social than his outward demeanor suggests. He enjoys being around other people and can be warm, funny and surprisingly affectionate when comfortable. Emotionally, however, Mike is guarded. He forms relatively few close relationships, but those relationships become extremely important to him and inspire a fierce sense of loyalty and protectiveness. Mike tends to internalize problems and can spend considerable time questioning his own decisions or wondering what something means. When uncertain, he often seeks out someone he trusts to provide perspective rather than simply tell him what to do. |
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| Strengths & Weaknesses | Mike thrives when he is needed. Calm and decisive in an emergency, he is an excellent surgeon who enjoys pressure, problem solving and situations where there is a clear problem to solve. Unfortunately, work also provides him with a convenient way to avoid dealing with his own problems. Mike has a dry, sometimes cutting sense of humor and can become sarcastic, catty or openly "bitchy" when tired, annoyed or uncomfortable. Although normally controlled, his judgment can suffer when somebody he loves is threatened. Mike is also prone to self-doubt, particularly a fear that the people closest to him may eventually outgrow or no longer need him. |
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| Ambitions | Mike's relationship with ambition is complicated. Growing up beneath his father's expectations left him deeply resistant to being told what he should become, while also instilling a powerful need to prove himself. Choosing medicine instead of operations was both a genuine calling and one of Mike's first major decisions to define his own life. For much of his adult life Mike continued moving toward the next obvious goal: medical school, surgery, Starfleet service and finally discovering what happened to his brother. Following the Defiant mission, that momentum largely disappeared. Mike is not without ambition, but he is currently trying to separate what he actually wants from what he has spent his life believing he is supposed to achieve. |
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| Hobbies & Interests | A Nidan (2nd Degree Black Belt) in Shobayashi Shorin-Ryu Karate, Mike continues to train and makes regular use of the ship's fitness facilities. He enjoys old movies, thrillers and the occasional novel, as well as card games and recreational sports such as hockey. Mike also appreciates good food, drinks, coffee and cigars, particularly when shared with friends. Many of his interests are social rather than obsessive pursuits in their own right. More recently he has developed a mild interest in astrology and horoscopes, although whether he actually believes any of it remains questionable. |
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| Religion/Guiding Philosophy | Lapsed Catholic |
| Personal History | Mike was born on March 19, 2243 to a large Italian family in New Jersey. His father, Joseph Amato Sr., was a retired Starfleet Chief Petty Officer and former Boatswain who continued to run his household with much the same discipline he had expected aboard ship. Growing up in that environment could be suffocating for Mike and his older brother Joseph. Mike excelled in school and enjoyed several sports, although Joseph was usually the better athlete. Their father had ambitions for both sons to eventually enter Starfleet, something Joseph fulfilled right on schedule when he entered Starfleet Academy at eighteen. Finally away from home, Joseph began making his own decisions. He switched from operations to helm and navigation and, during the Four Years War, was placed into active service aboard the Anton-class U.S.S. Plato. There he met another Academy midshipman, Tristan Faust, who had been assigned as the ship's science officer. The two quickly became close friends. Mike was thirteen when the war ended in 2256. His memories of Joseph and Tristan returning from the war remained colored by the perspective of a young teenager watching two young men come home as heroes. There were uniforms, celebrations and stories of places and events Mike knew largely from news reports. Joseph generally took the attention in stride while Tristan, quieter and considerably more serious, seemed less certain what to do with it. Through Joseph, Tristan soon became a familiar figure in the Amato family. Joseph Sr. liked the young officer and followed his career with considerable interest, regarding Tristan as an example of what a successful Starfleet officer could become. Tristan himself remained unfailingly polite toward the elder Amato, although years of watching the pressure he placed upon both sons left Tristan with a considerably less favorable private opinion of the man. Mike's own relationship with Tristan gradually became independent of Joseph. Joseph was outgoing, impulsive and fond of his own hijinks, while Tristan was the quieter counterweight. When Tristan could not determine whether Joseph was actually serious about something, Mike could usually translate. Likewise, when Mike began second-guessing himself, Tristan became someone he could ask for an opinion without receiving another lecture about what he should become. Joseph and Tristan also occasionally treated Mike as the younger brother tagging along with them. While Mike was still underage, the pair once dressed him in a borrowed cadet uniform and smuggled him into a Starfleet bar in San Francisco. They later introduced him to cigars, another habit Mike would retain into adulthood. Tristan remained present through many of the Amato family's milestones and was there with Joseph when Mike eventually graduated from Starfleet Academy.  During his teenage years Mike increasingly faced the full weight of his father's expectations. He was being groomed for an eventual Starfleet career and began actively pushing back against the rigid life Joseph Sr. had planned for him. At the same time, Mike was grappling with his sexual orientation. Growing up in a traditional family with strong military values, he felt considerable pressure to conform. He developed a deliberately tough exterior at school and kept his feelings largely to himself. Karate initially became part of that image but eventually developed into a genuine lifelong interest.After high school Mike did enter Starfleet Academy, although not in the operations track his father had expected. Instead, he entered the medical program and ultimately pursued surgery. Away from home, much of Mike's rebellious tough-guy persona gradually faded. Medicine suited him. He enjoyed the pressure, the immediate problem solving and the intensity of surgery, while the demands of medical training also provided a convenient excuse to remain far away from his father's influence.  In 2266, while attending Starfleet Medical, Mike met sophomore cadet Tobias Dienstag. The two became romantically involved despite considerable differences in their personalities. Toby's enthusiasm and optimism contrasted sharply with Mike's more guarded temperament, and their relationship quickly became one of the most important in Mike's life.By this time Joseph had built a successful career of his own. He had risen to Lieutenant Commander and was serving aboard the Constitution-class U.S.S. Defiant. Unlike both Mike and Tristan, Joseph had become relatively content to allow his career to develop at its own pace. Having finally built a life well beyond his father's immediate influence, he felt little need to chase the next promotion simply to prove that he could attain it. Joseph Sr., however, continued to see additional possibilities ahead for his eldest son. In early 2268 the Defiant disappeared into the Interphase and Joseph was eventually declared missing in action following an investigation by the U.S.S. Enterprise. His disappearance devastated Mike and Tristan alike. Mike had lost his older brother; Tristan had lost the friend who had been beside him since the war. That May, Tristan was assembling the crew of his first command, the Constitution-class U.S.S. Midway. One of the mysteries he intended to pursue was the disappearance of the Defiant. Mike needed little convincing. Following his internship at Starfleet Medical, he joined the Midway as a surgical resident under Dr. Sebastian Kitchner. Joseph's absence also changed Mike and Tristan's relationship. Each possessed memories of Joseph the other could not. Tristan had known Joseph as an adult, fellow officer and closest friend, while Mike had known the brother and son behind that officer. Mike, in turn, was one of the few people who remembered Tristan before the command rank and reputation, when he had simply been Joseph's unusually serious young friend from the Plato. Without Joseph between them, the relationship they had already developed over more than a decade became considerably more important to both men. During the Midway's maiden voyage Mike nearly ended his Starfleet career before it had properly begun. After Dr. Dave Meddows, the ship's increasingly unstable psychiatrist, emotionally dissected Toby during what should have been a routine evaluation, Mike confronted him and knocked the doctor unconscious with a punch to the jaw. Meddows initially failed to remember the incident and later refused to pursue the matter. The larger investigation surrounding the confrontation eventually resulted in Meddows being declared incompetent by the Sector Medical Chief. Nevertheless, the incident exposed a dangerous weakness in Mike's otherwise professional demeanor: where the people he loves are concerned, his judgment can occasionally give way to anger.  The Midway's next major mission finally brought Mike the investigation he had wanted. The ship followed the trail of the Defiant into the parallel universe previously encountered by the Enterprise and discovered that the missing vessel had fallen into the hands of the Terran Empire. Unable to recover her, the Midway ultimately destroyed the Defiant to prevent its continued use by the Terrans.Mike finally learned what had happened to his brother, but the answer brought little of the closure he had expected. Instead, the mission forced him to confront the reality that Joseph was truly gone. In the months that followed Mike fell into a severe depression, increasingly buried himself in his work and placed considerable strain on his relationship with Toby. Having spent much of his life responding to somebody else's expectations and much of his adult life pursuing an answer about Joseph, Mike emerged from the Defiant mission without an obvious next objective. For perhaps the first time, he has been forced to ask a much more difficult question: what does Michael Amato actually want for himself? |
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| Service Record | 2261- 2267 - Starfleet Academy - Medical School - Cadet 2267 - 2268 - Starfleet Medical - Internship - Lieutenant Junior Grade 2268 - Present - US.S. Midway - Medical Officer (Surgical Resident) - Lieutenant |