Manfred Kano

Manfred Kano was the father of USS Voyager Lieutenant Henry Kano and the former Master-at-Arms of the New Zealand Penal Settlement. A thirty-year Starfleet veteran of the Security field, Manfred served in a variety of different assignments throughout his Starfleet career. (Star Trek: Voyager - Dark Realm)

Biography

Early life

Manfred Kano was the second son of Richard and Lauren Kano. His mother was a nurse and his father was a career security officer and a retired Captain. His older sibling was George, born in 2315. His sisters Maureen and Julia were born in, 2327 and 2330 respectively.

He was often a difficult child and frequently was getting into fights as a boy and a teenager, most often with his brother George and his schoolmates. It was when Manfred was twelve and in his third schoolyard fight that his father decided on an unorthodox solution: boxing.

Over his mother's strident protests Manfred was enrolled in a youth boxing program while the family was stationed on Starbase 375. When the family moved back to Earth in 2336, he still had problems with aggression and fighting. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in Starfleet in 2337.

Starfleet career

He underwent Basic Security Force Training at Kapooka, Australia and did advanced survival training in the Australian Outback.

His first Starfleet posting was to the USS Brattain from 2338 to 2342. His somewhat pugnacious attitude got him into trouble. While he made Petty Officer Third Class in record time onboard the Brattain, he was also reduced back to Crewman on at least three occasions.

He often stated that had it not been for Chief Petty Officer Joseph Bates, a fellow Australian with 'a mean right hook' as well as the Brattain's Master-at-Arms he probably would have been thrown out of Starfleet. Bates helped channel the younger man's aggression and within a few months Manfred would rise to the rank of Petty Officer Second Class.

His next posting was to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards as a Quick Reaction Force team leader. There he would rise to the rank of Petty Officer First Class and have another life altering event. It was there in 2343 that he met Michelle Allenby, a young Australian woman who was doing an internship as a counselor. After a whirlwind courtship he married her in 2345. A year later their first son, Henry, was born while the couple vacationed in Botany Bay, Australia and Manfred rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer.

Manfred's next posting was to the USS Galaxy where he moved his son and wife. The family was stationed on USS Galaxy from 2346 to 2350. This would be Manfred's last starship posting due to his desire for a stable family life. He requested and received an assignment to a Starfleet training command.

When he moved his family to Botany Bay in 2351 he was assigned to the recruiting station there from 2351 to 2353. During that tour which Michelle jokingly called The Pregnancy and Promotion Tour, his two younger sons Michael and David were born and he rose in ranks to Senior Chief Petty Officer.

Following a promotion to Senior Chief, he would later be assigned from 2353 to 2359 as a Company Commander to the Security Forces Recruit Training Brigade's First Battalion in Kapooka, Australia. He would refer to the posting in later years as 'an odd homecoming of sorts'.

In 2359 he rose to the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer and served a two year tour as the Security Forces Recruit Training Brigade Command Master Chief. After that assignment, in 2361 he took the post of Master-at-Arms for the New Zealand Penal Settlement. He would serve at that post until he retired in 2367.

Family and personal life

Manfred had always been a proud, strong, sometimes stubbornly strong man throughout his life. Whenever he set his mind to something he would do it. His temper was one obstacle he grappled with for much of his life, and two people most helpful for combating it were Chief Bates and his wife, Michelle.

He was also a very family minded man, a loyal and loving husband and father. It was his love for Michelle that prompted him to take anger management to heart. Michelle had helped him learn patience when it came to dealing with children. One specific incident occurred in 2354. That night Michelle took him to the room where their oldest son, Henry was asleep and said: "That's not a recruit. I'm not a recruit." Manfred replied: "Of course that's not a recruit, that's our son." It was then that Michelle had said: "Your children aren't recruits and neither am I."

Manfred could be a stern father when his sons misbehaved, but he was also a loving and kind father. He never pushed Starfleet on any of his three sons, but still felt a great sense of pride when his eldest signed up to join Starfleet, and more pride still when that son was commissioned as a Starfleet officer. Frank and honest two-way father son conversations were characteristics of all three boys' relationship with their father, but these talks had the most impact on Henry.

His relationship with his son Michael could at times be strained, as his middle son was a very enterprising young lad when it came to breaking rules and was a very fast talker. He was concerned in Michael's adolescence that the boy would wind up sitting in a jail cell with some of his dealings, but was relieved when his son got an internship with a Federation Embassy. He was a little perturbed when Michael accepted a posting to Ferenginar.

His relationship with his youngest son, David was also an amicable one. Though he had hoped the boy would join Starfleet when the time came, he was pleased that his son was accepted to The University of London.

As a light heavyweight boxer he won the Sol Boxing Championship of 2339. However he was cheated out of his winnings by a Ferengi gambler named Bokat. He was reduced in rank to Crewman for pummeling Bokat into submission and sending the Ferengi flying into a wall. As a boxer his record was 13-4-1.

His most famous fight was against then Ensign Chakotay in 2346 when the USS Galaxy and USS Merrimac were docked at Starbase 375. Both the wardroom and the chief's mess of the two ships ardently advocated their respective champion would win the eight round bout. Chief Bates, now the Starbase 375 Chief of Operations, would referee the bout between Merrimac's Tattooed Terror and Galaxy's Fist from Down Under. For the first three rounds the combatants warily probed each other with Chakotay trying to go in to swap hooks and Manfred throwing long jabs with the occasional hard right cross. By round four they were in a close in slugfest that was inconclusive, Chakotay backed Manfred into the ropes while Manfred managed to knock Chakotay down with a right cross to the nose. Round five was clearly Manfred's as Chakotay's attempts to close were met with fast jabs. Round six was another inconclusive slugfest. By round seven it was evident the fight could swing either way as both combatants began to tire. In the eight round Chakotay's mean right hook sent Manfred Kano to the mat, down for the count.

Michelle's frequent question to her husband for several days after the incident was: 'What were you thinking?'. His fellow Chiefs on the Galaxy never quite let him live down the fact that he was defeated by a wet behind the ears Ensign. In 2378 he would say a rematch was in order, 'if the Commander felt so inclined' when Voyager arrived in the Alpha Quadrant, prompting Michelle to call that proposed bout the Midlife Crisis Bout.

He was known to be a fan of the various Bull and Terrier breeds of dog because their steadfast loyalty was endearing to him. He in fact owned an American Pitbull Terrier named Smarty when he was on Utopia Planitia. When the dog became resentful of Michelle, however, he was forced to give it away. The dog would pass to none other than Chief Bates in his retirement in Hawaii, on Earth. When his son Henry bought an American Staffordshire Terrier named Titus, his passion for the Molosser family of dogs was reawakened. He decided to start breeding companion dogs with Titus as his primary stud while Henry was on Voyager's mission pursuing Chakotay. Michelle thought that this new hobby of dog breeding was far better than boxing, though she was a little leery of the Bull and Terrier breeds due to her experience with Smarty.

Behind the scenes

Manfred Kano's surname was a tribute to Trevor Goddard's portrayal of the villain Kano in the Mortal Combat films.

External link

Star Trek: Voyager - Dark Realm