Trekipedia

Mayweather, Travis

Ensign Travis Mayweather was the Enterprise NX-01‘s resident “space boomer”—children born and raised on interstellar cargo freighters—which gave him natural instincts for space travel that surpassed those of his crewmates. He was also one of the most skilled pilots of his time, making him uniquely qualified to sit at the helm of Starfleet‘s first deep-space exploration vessel.^[1]

Boundlessly enthusiastic, Travis was still bright-eyed about being in space despite having grown up there. In fact, he once said he couldn’t call a place home unless it came with a pair of warp nacelles.^[1] One of his favorite places on a space vessel was the “Sweet Spot”—a location usually halfway between the grav-generator and the bow plate, where the gravity was null and one could float freely. While growing up he liked to sleep in zero-G, which he described as “just like being back in the womb.” His father kept the artificial gravity on his cargo ship at 0.8g, which the elder Mayweather felt “put a little spring in his step.” This, of course, meant that Earth-normal gravity like that on most starships felt a bit heavy to Travis, but that never slowed him down.^[1]

His family often hauled unrefined dilithium between Draylax and Vega Colony on the Earth Cargo Ship Horizon, a J-class freighter which ran no faster than Warp 1.8. At that speed, a crew had a lot of time on their hands between ports, and that’s reportedly how the Mayweathers ended up with Travis.^[1] He was proud of his heritage as a “boomer” and relished the unique experiences of his upbringing—the “Siren Calls” of gas giants which sometimes gave him nightmares;^[6] the “mystery meals” made out of nutri-paks when real food started running low;^[8] and the independent spirit of the cargo crews, who were determined to handle any situation that arose without help from any outsider.^[5] In fact, the crewmembers often held down several jobs at a time—Travis’ mother was the ship’s medic and chief engineer, while his grandfather held the record of five jobs at one time, two of them on the Bridge.^[8] Travis has also had the opportunity to visit many worlds—Trillius Prime, the Teneebian Moons, Draylax with its uniquely endowed women—even though it took years to get to each place.^[1]

As a youngster, Travis stayed up for a month mapping every system he planned to visit when he grew up. He also enjoyed turning off the grav-plating to jump on the bed with his best friend, Nora. Naturally, the duo was grounded for their mischief.^[8] Once he grew up, Travis had to figure out where he wanted to spend the rest of his life, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t on the Draylax-Vega run. That’s when he decided to leave the E.C.S. Horizon and join Starfleet.^[1] It was a move that created tension among his family, because his father was expecting him to someday take over the cargo ship, although ultimately he respected the decision. In fact, when Captain Jonathan Archer was looking at candidates for helm officer, Travis’ father sent the captain a one-sentence recommendation, saying that he’d never seen a more natural “stick and rudder” man in his life. Travis is fully aware that his choice to leave home makes him unpopular among his fellow boomers, who are worried that more young people will follow in his footsteps and leave the freighter business shorthanded.^[5]

Travis was devastated when word arrived that his father had passed away in 2153. A visit to the Horizon shortly thereafter made for more tension between Travis and his family—though his mother, Rianna, welcomed him with open arms, his brother, Paul, was somewhat hostile. As the newly-promoted captain of the Horizon, Paul felt slighted when Travis attempted to make upgrades to the ship’s systems. A dangerous encounter with some marauding aliens, however, forced the brothers to work together and brought them closer.^[8]

Mayweather never regretted his decision to join Starfleet, considering it to be the best thing that ever happened to him. It gave him the opportunity to see more places and experience more things; the technology is more advanced, such as the newly perfected transporter (which he had yet to experience in 2151, but he was curious to try it out); as well as his assertion that the food was better. Also, he had the potential to someday become captain of his own starship, and see his portrait get hung on the walls of Starfleet Command to inspire future cadets.^[5]

As a Starfleet ensign, Travis Mayweather was one of the first humans to walk on a comet.^[4] He got to visit Terra Nova, the lost human colony he grew up reading about, and become part of its history.^[3] He was the first human to pilot a starship to Warp 5.^[1] He’s even got a new audience for his famous space-based “ghost stories.”^[2] But he’s had his share of misadventures. While on vacation to the pleasure planet Risa, he was injured while taking on a reckless challenge—rock-climbing at Galartha where the cliff face changes pitch while you climb it—and in a local hospital was administered with an alien medication that nearly killed him.^[7] Travis had yet another rock-climbing accident when assisting Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed in rescuing a group of Denobulan scientists from some underground caverns.^[9]

Like the rest of the crew, Ensign Mayweather was constantly faced with new situations and dangers as the Enterprise journeyed deeper into the galaxy—and the mission into the Delphic Expanse^[10] was no exception. But with his “boomer” background, superior piloting skills, and affable nature, Mayweather proved to be an invaluable crew member who faced every situation with a smile and a sense of wonder.

E73 Timeline

Some time after the ship was accidentally stranded decades in the past, Mayweather married MACO Corporal Mackenzie.^[11]

Portrayed by Anthony Montgomery.