Taurik

Ensign Taurik was a Vulcan crewmember serving in the engineering division aboard the USS Enterprise-D.

Taurik's dry wit was typically Vulcan, which played off his roommate and friend Sam Lavelle. Other friends aboard the Enterprise included Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, Ensign Sito Jaxa, and Ten Forward waiter Ben. The group had regular poker nights in Taurik and Lavelle's quarters.

While at Starfleet Academy, Taurik had the opportunity to review preliminary findings by Dr. Nils Diaz. He discovered that causing the plasma flow in the warp nacelles to become out of sync increased overall warp field stability. Using Diaz's work, Taurik designed modifications to the warp drive of the Galaxy class Enterprise in 2370 which increased its warp field stability by seven percent. He was eager to begin field tests on this and a number of other enhancements under the auspices of Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge.

La Forge was irritated by the upstart ensign, who was also extremely inquisitive and perceptive. La Forge had Taurik help him damage the shuttlecraft Curie, claiming that it was part of a hull resiliency test. Taurik recognized that the phaser blast patterns were consistent with making it appear as if the shuttle had fled an attack, although he also realized that La Forge wanted him to keep quiet about the task. La Forge later decided that Taurik was not annoying him on purpose, and invited him to Main Engineering to begin work on the engine modifications.

After Sito Jaxa left the Enterprise on a covert mission to Cardassian space, Lavelle tried to get more information about her whereabouts from Taurik, but he remained silent. After her escape pod was destroyed and she was believed killed, Taurik mourned her loss with his friends. He also assuaged Lavelle's guilt over receiving a promotion for which Sito was also considered, telling him that the best way to honor Sito's memory would be to excel in his new position. 


 * Taurik was played by Alexander Enberg, who also portrayed the similarly named yet different Vulcan Vorik on Star Trek: Voyager. Producer Jeri Taylor (who happens to be Enberg's mother) once suggested that Taurik and Vorik were twin brothers.

By 2380 Taurik had been promoted to Lieutenant Commander. When the USS Beliskner was launched, early that year, he was assigned as it's new chief engineer, replacing the crew's previous engineer A'Cillia who was presumed killed shortly before the destruction of the USS Lapon, which most of the ship's officer's had previously served on. Later the same year, Taurik proved himself when he assisted in the rescue of both Chavin and Captain Hunt when the fighter they were in was sabotaged and crashed on take off, causing a massive fire.