In 2359, his only brother, Iago, drowned while Bartolomé was still in Toledo, and, shortly thereafter, in a surprise move that shocked and angered his parents, he took the Starfleet Academy entrance exam, barely passing, and left for San Francisco. His mother was disappointed to say the least; his father barely spoke to him for nearly a year.

While at the Academy, Bartolomé excelled at his studies, especially in areas of flight control and tactics. In his freshman year, he made the Academy fencing team, and was top-ranked fencer at the Academy from his sophmore year on, which is the reason that his father began to speak to him again. In 2364, while in his senior year, Bartolomé went to the Federation Olympics, taking gold in foil and silver in both epeé and saber. Graduating third in his class, Bartolomé was accepted to the Starfleet Advanced Tactical School in Glasgow, under the tutalage of Captain Irene deMercereau.

After leaving AdTac, he was recruited into the Starfleet fighter units, training with the 47th Lionheart Squadron on Starbase One. Remaining with the squadron until 2370, Bartolomé rose to the rank of Lieutenant. In 2369, his father again cut off all contact, this time permanantly, when he blamed Bartolomé for the actions of his two youngest and favorite sisters; Mireia, who married a Starfleet engineer of Irish descent and left Earth, and Emilia, who entered Starfleet Academy to follow her brother. The same year, he met Ensign Amélie Picareau, a member of Starbase One's engineering research team. Within a year, the two were married, transferring together to the U.S.S. Majestic, Bartolomé as a flight leader with the ship's fighter squadron, and Amélie as a member of the ship's engineering staff.

In 2372, the Majestic took part is several actions along the Klingon border, fighting in the brief Federation-Klingon War. During this time, the Majestic's commanding officer, Captain Norexis zh'Shlaran, was promoted to the admiralty, and the new commander, Captain Nelis Saler, transferred in from the starship Wells. A well-liked commander, Captain Saler promoted Santiago to command of the ship's squadron only two weeks before the outbreak of the Dominion War.

With the departure of the squadron's previous commander and three other pilots, Phoenix squadron underwent a reorganization. Being a joint fleet-marine unit, among the new transfers were Flight Leader Juan Holmes and Second Lieutenant Joral Anton.

The Majestic, being a part of Admiral deMercereau's 74th Battle Squadron of the Sixth Fleet, took part in several major actions of the early War, leading right up to the retaking of Deep Space Nine. During this time, the Majestic was destroyed, and Amélie Picareau-Santiago was killed, along with 162 other crewmembers. Bartolomé Santiago never recovered from her loss, and has never forgiven Nelis Saler for the destruction of the vessel.

Phoenix Squadron, meanwhile, had survived with only one death, and was trasferred to Starbase 375, recieving Ensign Ares Khoma as a replacement pilot, and then on to the U.S.S. Relentless. Santiago refused to take any leave after his wife's funeral, and plunged deeper into his work, becoming a vicious trainer, forcing his squadron into brutal training maneuvers. In actualy combat, he bacame highly reckless, risking himself unnecessarily. During the invasion of Cardassia, he sent his fighter careening into a small Jem'Hadar attack craft, ejecting only moments before impact. He was lucky; his injuries were only a broken left wrist and a mild concussion.

The end of the war saw both his promotion to Lieutenant Commander, and his removal from active command. Sent back to Starbase 375, he was made the training officer for the base's fighter wing, but was not given an active flight duty role. In his two years in this position, he became increasingly sour and embittered, ocassionally being prone to violent outbursts, once breaking Nelis Saler's nose, and spending three nights in the station brig. Though never officially reprimanded, he was eventually granted a request for transfer, returning to Starbase One and active command.

Given command of the Second Starfighter Wing stationed at Starbase One, Santiago was there for two years, slowly recovering from his wife's death. While never fully recovering, the two years he spent at Earth did diminish the violent tendancies. He was still stationed at the base when it was destroyed by the October 1st, 2379 terrorist attacks. He was out with one of his squadrons on patrol, and was just returning to the base when it was destroyed. Caught in the shockwave, his fighter was found an hour later by the disabled Icarus, also floating in the debris field, and he was beamed aboard, and then later transferred to Starfleet Medical.

His injuries were extensive, including a major spinal injury, contusions along the scalp, a punctured lung, several other broken bones, and a crushed spleen. He spent several months in rehabilitation, where, for a time at least, he had the heavily injured Captain Holmes of the Icarus as company. Finally declared fit for duty, he requested a front-line assignment, believing his skills to be necessary on a starship, rather than a sitting-duck of a space station. He was sent to the carrier Arizona as the vessel's wing commander, with a trasfer to the newly reorganized Starfleet Starfighter Corps and a change of title to Major. Despite the abnormally large complement of starfighters onboard the Arizona, the somewhat disorganized nature of the brand-new SFFC meant that no one thought it odd for a man of his relatively low rank to be commanding two full wings.

The title was extraordinarily brief. Less than two months after his transfer to the Arizona, the ship was destroyed by a group of pirates. Rather than transferring to yet another vessel, Santiago remained with the Arizona's crew, though the Arizona-A lacked a full fighter wing. Instead, Santiago reassumed the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and transferred to Flight Control onboard the new Hyperion-class vessel.

This was a short-lived position, and he was soon transferred back to the SFFC as a wing commander, along with the expected promotion in rank that implied - the very same promotion he hadn't been given when he trasferred to the carrier Arizona. Unfortunately for Santiago, the wing in question (First Wing, SFFC) was a dual-deployment wing of the Twelfth Fleet, with its first group (consisting of SF-1 Rogue, SF-96 Aurora, and RF-42 Wraith squadrons) being deployed to the U.S.S. Miranda, and the second group (comprised of SF-71 Chimera, FI-106 Gladiator, and RF-13 Shadow squadrons) being posted on the U.S.S. Icarus. As such, Santiago found himself once again chained to a desk, first on Starbase 212, and then on the new Starbase Atlantis, where he recieved his promotion to Colonel.

This positionev entually brought him into the front lines of the Federation's undeclared cold war against the Hydran, T'Kith'kin, and Breen empires. When Starfleet recieved intelligence of a possible alliance between the Hydrans and the reclusive Lyrans, Santiago was given temporary command of the Chamberlain-class escort carrier Gordon, and, along with the 42nd Fighter Group (Rogue) from the U.S.S. Miranda, was ordered to investigate.

The mission was an unmitigated distaster. Faulty information from both Rihanssu Naval Intelligence and the Starfleet Intelligence Directorate led to the loss of the Gordon and nine members of Rogue Group, including Commander Joral Anton, who was declared missing. Santiago managed to save the crew of the Gordon, and returned to Starbase Atlantis. He remained at his post until the outbreak of the Triad War, at which point the reorganization of the SFFC led to the entire 1st Wing being assigned to the Miranda under the command of the newly-transferred Colonel Holmes (a former member of Santiago's Phoenix Squadron), and Santiago's promotion to General. It was at this point that SFFC HQ decided to place him in the position that he showed the most talent at, that of instructor, and he was given command of the SFFC's Advanced Flight School, euphemistically referred to by those elite pilots who attended it as 'Top Gun'.

A once cheerful and vibrant man, Bartolomé Santiago has become, in recent years, known for his violent temper. A habitual drinker, he seems discontent in almost any situation. However, when on a fencing strip, he becomes highly animated, seeming to relish in the combat. In the cockpit of a starfighter, he is notoriously efficient. No longer prone to the self-destructive risk-taking that chracterized him just after his wife's loss, he is now known for gruelling drills, constantly spending hours with his squads for even mild increases in efficiency ratings. While known as a bit of a petty tyrant, he is respected by all of his pilots, and is known for the highly effective - if extraordinarily unpleasant - personal touch.