Gary quick was born in Fort Smith,  Arkansas, on earth in 2333.   His early life was spent
between his home in Arkansas and   Starfleet Headquarters  in San Francisco,  California with his parents, both career Starfleet officers.  Quick was fascinated by the martial arts
from   various worlds within the Federation  and spent a great  deal of his  youth  studying
and  mastering several disciplines.  As  he  grew  older,  quick also  became interested 
in  space flight  and,  when he  was thirteen,  became the  youngest  person  to  be licensed  as  a commercial  shuttle pilot, making the  San Francisco / New Berlin  run three times per day during his summer months.  Quick followed in his  parents'  footsteps  and entered  Starfleet Academy   in  2351.  While  at  the Academy, Quick became fast friends with another cadet, Daniel Shetley. While in their second year, Quick and Shetley were assigned to a shuttle  run from Jupiter to Saturn, known as the Jovian run. Cadet Shetley set a new speed record for the Jovian run, which Cadet Quick  broke two days later. Both cadets were reprimanded for their use of the Titan's Turn maneuver. However, this did not stop Cadet Shetley from setting yet another new record the very next week. Quick was set to  attempt  to  break Shetley's new record but both cadets were grounded by their instructors for the remainder of their academy days. 

Quick graduated first in his class of 2355 and was  immediately  assigned  to  the U.S.S. Livingston  as its junior Tactical Officer.  Quick  served  aboard  the  Livingston for  eight  years  and  attained  the  rank  of commander before accepting a position on the nebula class U.S.S. Farragut as its Executive Officer in 2363.

Quick was promoted to captain of the U.S.S. Farragut  in 2364 after he successfully came to the rescue of the survivors of the  U.S.S. Livingston   after it was destroyed during a Cardassian surprise attack. The Farragut destroyed  the  remaining  Cardassian  warship and  returned the  Livingston  survivors to Federation space. During this incident, Quick was serving  as  the  interim  captain of the  Farragut   after its previous captain retired. Quick's promotion  to  captain came about largely due to the recommendation of his former captain, Alexander Pierce. 

In 2369, Captain Quick brought his friend Daniel Shetley aboard the Farragut as his Executive Officer. He also supervised the evacuation of the crew of the galaxy class U.S.S. Enterprise  from Veridian III in 2371. Quick's command of the U.S.S. Farragut ended in 2373 when  the ship was destroyed near the Lembatta cluster during the Klingon Conflict.

Captain Quick  accepted  a position   at the Utopia Planitia fleet yards in 2373 and worked alongside his former captain, Rear Admiral Alexander Pierce. Quick was an early choice to become captain of the andromeda class starship U.S.S. Liberator,  but was instead appointed its executive officer behind Fleet Captain Sa'lanna of Vulcan in 2374.