Pedersen, Maria
PRC 
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STAR FLEET PERSONNEL COMMAND FILE |
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| RETIRED[2] | |||
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| Maria Anastasia Pedersen | |||
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| Career Occupation | |||
| Position: | Security Officer | ||
| Assignment: | USS Sheridan, DD-4086 | ||
| Rank: | Lieutenant Junior Grade | 
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| Biographical Attributes | |||
| Species: | Human | ||
| Gender: | Female | ||
| Height: | 163 cm (5 ft. 4 in.) | Weight: | 59.9 kg (132 lb.) |
| Eye Color: | Blue | ||
| Hair Color: | Blonde | ||
| Hairstyle: | When on duty – tied up in a knot. When off duty, Maria lets her hair hang loose. | ||
| Physique: | Slim, and rather girlish. Academy physical training did do a lot to increase her muscle mass. Her statute has a tendency to make people underestimate her, which her martial arts trainer found out when she threw him one meter in a Judo-throw.. | ||
| Complexion: | Caucasian/Scandinavian | ||
| Voice: | Slightly high-pitched | ||
| Affiliation: | United Federation of Planets | ||
| Birthplace: | Commonwealth Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark; Earth | ||
| Born: | 18406.25 | Age: | 28 |
| Familial Relationships | |||
| Father: | Captain Bo Pedersen, 69. Captain of the USS Valdemar during the First Dominion War and until the end of the First General War. Military Governor of the Saranti suburb of the Cardassian capital during the occupation and rebuilding of Cardassia Prime. He accepted a demotion after the ending of the First General War to get an assignment on Earth. Served as a high ranking official at the security division at Star Fleet Headquarters until the outbreak of hostilities with the Romulans in 2408, where he was re-called to assume command of the USS Valdemar.. | ||
| Mother: | Eva, 54. Head waitress at the restaurant at Hotel Scandinavia in Copenhagen, Denmark | ||
| Status of Parents: | Married, living in Vordingborg, Denmark | ||
| Siblings: | Lieutenant (junior grade) Mark Pedersen, 25. (Deceased) | ||
| Marital Status: | Single | ||
| Children: | None | ||
Personal History
Maria’s earliest memories involve Star Fleet. She was two when the First General War broke out, and she was evacuated from the USS Valdemar, which was all she knew, to Earth along with her brother and mother. Not having her father around was very troubling for Maria, and those early years missing her father, made a big impact on her. When she gradually found out who the enemies were, a hate for them started fueling in the little girl’s mind. When the Borg invaded 11 years later, and her father got recalled to starship duty to defend Earth, it was almost more than she could bear. As Star Fleet vessels were out of contact with Command, and therefore Earth, she developed a gnawing fear of losing not only her father, but her whole family. This fear remains with her to this day. It’s lingering in the back of her head, but she has learned to keep it somewhat under control, mostly thanks to help from one of her Vulcan friends.
Maria was a very smart child, and when her kindergarten-teachers noticed her reading ”Cinderella”, albeit somewhat slowly and influent, at age 4, they recommended she start school the next year. One thing that the teachers did notice when she started school was that she was very introvert; playing mostly by herself. This stems from her kindergarten-years, where the other children bullied her a lot. As a result, Maria developed a low self-esteem (which she still struggles with), and has had difficulties making friends all through the years, because of her introvertness. This, however, meant that she had to find something that she was good at, and the choice fell on schoolwork. Maria aced every test, always did her homework, and knew the answers to almost all questions the teachers would ask. This didn’t do much to make her friends; rather it ostracized her even more, the other kids seeing her as a ”brainiac” and a ”teacher’s pet”, and started bullying her even more, which just enhanced the vicious circle of introvertness she was in.
When in the 7th grade, Maria had to start working with 8th grade materials to get a challenge, her teachers decided to recommend she skip the 8th grade and go straight to the 9th. She did 9th grade at a boarding school, a centuries-old Danish tradition, but the bullying continued even there. This did, however, give Maria a sentiment she would be needing later: ”See through what you start, even when it looks the worst.”. She’s been called both stubborn and determined; the truth probably lies somewhere in-between. High School was the best years of Maria’s life. Her classmates slowly opened cracks in the armor that was her introvertness, and she managed to make friends of almost all of them. She can cry with happiness when she thinks of what those years did to her social skills. One time while her brother Mark was stationed on the USS Copernicus, he sent back one of his monthly letters home. This time, apart from news of recent events, he had attached a file called ”good news”, and written in capital letters: ”READ THIS, PLEASE!”
It was a New Testament. She knew that he was a Christian. The whole family knew, and was rather astonished by it, but had accepted it. Maria set her mind on reading this, and then giving Mark all the reasons that this was ”a load of bull”. So she started reading, but while she did, something happened. She started to get this eerie feeling that this was somehow right. She showed Mark’s attached file to her mom and dad, and one by one they had roughly the same experience. First rejection, then study, then faith. The death of her brother is a wound which she has not yet overcome completely, and probably will not ever overcome completely. As she advanced to the position of COS of the USS Darwin, she felt she was on the right track and her career was going smoothly….until the incident that was to change her life forever: On a survey mission on a planet with an early modern civilization (akin to 1980's Earth), a recon mission went bad, and two of the Darwin's crew got captured by the locals, and thought to be genetically engineered enemy spies. The Darwin intercepted secret transmissions from the surface, that the crew where to be executed.
Maria planned a rescue mission and presented it to the Captain, who flatly rejected it due to it being a blatant violation of the Prime Directive. Simply beaming them out won't do, as they were being constantly supervised. A heated discussion between Maria and the Captain ended with him ordering her to proceed no further in gathering a team, to which she, reluctantly, agreed. He did not, however, say that she couldn’t go by herself. Of course this is because he thought she'd never do something like this, but she worked with that, and snuck a portable transport enhancer, and a phaser, and casually told the transporter chief to take a break. When he left the room, she beamed herself down in the corridor next to the cell of the Darwin crew, and headed towards their life-signs. Of course she was discovered by a team of guards, the very team sent to bring the crew to the site of the execution, and a short, unequal firefight ensued, with Maria, having the advantage of surprise, stunning the guards. She freed the crew, and used the transport enhancer to beam all three of them back aboard the Darwin.
Of course the prison complex was monitored by camera...which caught the firefight as well, and as the Darwin left orbit hastily, it picked up transmissions from secret government channels about "this strange new weapon the enemy has!" Naturally, the Captain was furious, and the first that Maria, knowing this, did upon return to the Darwin, was to hand over the Department to her ACOS, and confine herself to the brig, pending her court-martial.
At the court-martial, she pleaded guilty, and explained that she could NOT leave crewmates to die alone on an alien world for no reason at all.
The court considered her co-operation, and her examplary service so far (decorated with both the Gold Star and the Purple Heart), and decided that, in the light of these facts, she'll be stripped of her position as COS, serve 2 weeks in the brig, and face demotion to Ensign, a sentence she accepted without appeal.
Upon her release, both the Captain of the Darwin, and Maria herself, requested that she be reassigned, and she was assigned to the USS Sheridan. She is unapologetic about the actions that led to her demotion, and has more than once in private conversation, said that faced with the same situation, she’d do the same again, in a heartbeat. The safety and well-being of the men under her command are paramount to her, and though she knows that losing people is part of the risk of Starfleet life, she insists that losing people in combat, or accidents, is a world apart from simply letting them die. One positive thing that’s come from what happened, is that her self-esteem and self-confidence has risen immensely, seeing as she could indeed stand up to even the system, and come out….not unscathed, but relatively well-off. And that she, when it mattered, did “the right thing”. The entire ordeal has toughened her up considerably, making her less “emotional”, meaning less reliant on and less susceptible to outbursts of emotion.
Personality Profile
Academy Major(s): Advanced Combat Training, Terran Military History.
Academy Minor(s): Hostile takeover (boarding), Melee combat
Hobbies and Pastimes: Holonovels, reading, R&R with crewmates
Short-Term Goals: Prove her abilities to her new crewmates
Long-Term Goals: Advance through the ranks. Her ultimate dream is to command a starship of her own someday, but she knows she has a lot of work to do with herself before that can be achieved. Especially with “the incident” on her record.
Personality: Introvert, due to her caution towards new people
Sense of Humor: Most people would say non-existing, but she shares her brother Mark’s fondness for playing with words
Phobias: Slightly claustrophobic. When she joined the Academy, and more so: When she came close to graduation, it dawned on Maria that she would one day be giving orders, and be expected to lead other people. This fact secretly terrifies her. She tries to hide her terror in the back of her head, more or less successfully.
Likes: Open displays of courage
Dislikes: Injustice and cruelty. Having been exposed to so much of it herself, she can get into a frenzy when she learns of anything she puts in those two categories. When she gets that worked up, it takes Maria the better part of an hour to really cool down again.
Pet Peeves or Gripes: Her wits have made Maria very intolerant to people who don’t catch on the first time a message is given. And it irritates her even more when a message is given so unclearly that she herself fails to understand the first time.
Achievements: Graduating from the Academy in the top 95th percentile. But something Maria takes more pride in is the advance she, in spite of everything, has made in her social skills
Disappointments: Maria often thinks about her childhood, and feels that it’s been wasted. She keeps reminding herself that she believes everything happens for a reason, but that knowledge is, in her, intellectual, and hasn’t gotten through to her emotions. And, of course, the reaction of some of her friends to “the incident”, as her demotion cost her a few friends, trying to “distance” themselves from her to protect their careers. She sucked it up, and said: “Guess that separates real friends from fake ones”, but it did bug her.
Illnesses: None
Strengths: Her stubborn determination to see through whatever she starts, as well as the fact that in the right place at the right time, her bottled up agressions can combine with her skills, and make a lean, mean fighting machine. Her vast knowledge of diverse issues could also come in handy at some point. Her new-found confidence will help tremendously in working on her other issues
Weaknesses: She has some anger-related issues that can cause her to react overly emotional to a situation, and this might impair her judgement, even in a live-fire situation.
Fears: Losing her family
Prejudices: The Dominion, the Romulans and the Cardassians.
Off Duty Clothing Tastes: Relaxed, but depending on her mood. Mostly jeans and a t-shirt.
Distinguishing Features: None
Pets: None since she moved out of her parents’ house. Until then she had a rabbit
Friends: Her brother’s widow Aisha, who she keeps in regular contact with
Personal Paradigm Shifts
Most Painful Experience: When her dad was recalled to fight the Borg, and the subsequent period without contact with him
Best Time: Her High School years
Most Crucial Experience: Her coming to faith
Role Model: Her dad and her brother Mark
Career History
| Position | Assignment | Date(s) | Event | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Security Officer | USS Enterprise, CV-07 | 20802.01 | Lieutenant | 
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| Security Officer | USS Enterprise, CV-07 | 20802.01 | Role Player of the Month | 
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| Security Officer | USS Enterprise, CV-07 | 20805.01 | Gold Star | 
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| Security Officer | USS Enterprise, CV-07 | 20807.01 | Purple Heart | 
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| Chief of Security | USS Darwin, GEC-9000 | 20807.01 | Assigned | |
| Chief of Security | USS Darwin, GEC-9000 | 20808.01 | Role Player of the Month |
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| Chief of Security | USS Darwin, GEC-9000 | 20810.01 | Star Fleet Commendation Medal | 
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| Security Officer | USS Sheridan, DD-4086 | 21212.01 | Assigned | |
| Security Officer | USS Sheridan, DD-4086 | 21212.01 | Ensign | 
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| Security Officer | USS Sheridan, DD-4086 | 21212.01 | Role Player of the Month |
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| Security Officer | USS Sheridan, DD-4086 | 21303.01 | Lieutenant Junior Grade |
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| Service Medals Awarded | ||
|---|---|---|
| Image | Description | Qty. |
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Star Fleet Commendation Medal | 1 |
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Gold Star | 1 |
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Purple Heart | 1 |
| Achievement Medals Awarded | ||
| Image | Description | Qty. |
|
Role Player of the Month | 3 |
