Sydesh, Beka

PRC	STAR FLEET PERSONNEL COMMAND FILE  SECURITY RATING 3, CONFIDENTIAL

Beka Sydesh
Career Occupation
Position:	Medical Officer
Assignment:	USS Artemis, EX-11000
Rank:	Lieutenant Junior Grade
Time on Site:
Biographical Attributes
Full Name:	Beka Sydesh
Species:	Human
Gender:	Female
Height:	173 cm (5 ft. 8 in.)	Weight:	65.8 kg (145 lb.)
Eye Color:	Bright emerald green
Hair Color:	Fiery ginger orange
Hairstyle:	She keeps her hair at or around shoulder length, and the style varies depending on her mood. Normally she’ll go with a double dutch (boxer) braid or a short ponytail, or just leave it loose.
Physique:	Long-legged and athletic, muscular but still very feminine in the curve of her hips and her shoulders
Complexion:	Pale Caucasian, that stubbornly refuses to tan under any circumstances.
Voice:	Beka’s voice naturally seems almost too loud to come from such a relatively small being – she can bellow across decks without the slightest problem. It’s something she’s acutely aware of though, and she takes great pains to use a softer, ‘inside’ voice
Affiliation:	United Federation of Planets
Birthplace:	Eisnor
Born:	(N/A) 00.00	Age:	26
Familial Relationships
Father:	Venin Sydesh
Mother:	Ester Sydesh
Siblings:	Daan(3 years older), Danika (1 year younger)
Marital Status:	Single

Personal History

Beka grew up on the frontier world of Eisnor. It was a spectacular planet at the extreme north of Federation territory, all soaring mountain ranges, active volcanos and thick jungles. There was so much to study and so much mineral wealth as yet untapped, that a colony was settled there. Both Beka’s parents were born there, the first generation of Eisnoran natives. The colony was originally settled by a fringe group of survivalists, who had been backed by industry in exchange for first refusal on anything that came out of the ground. There was no rancour towards the Federation but the Eisnorans were determined to try and make it on their own.

Education on Eisnor was very much slanted towards the practical rather than the theoretical; everyone in the society needed to find themselves a role fairly quickly and then prepare whilst they grew into their teens. In Beka’s case, she decided early on she wanted to be a doctor. There was a strong protective instinct that ran right through her and she had a knack for knowing what to do to help someone. Her unflappable demeanour was a perfect fit for someone who needed to calm someone in pain and establish what was wrong. And so she was taught how to handle injuries from cuts to broken bones, and identify poisons and bites from the symptoms that she was presented with.

When Sydesh was a little over 15 years old, Eisnor suffered a catastrophic event. For reasons nobody had time to figure out, the planet’s magnetic field went through a series of fluctuations, and these triggered volcanos across the world. Within a week, the once clear blue skies were choked black with ash and sulphur, and magma streams ran through the settlements. The people just about managed to get a distress signal out before the power grid collapsed and they had to cluster together in the few remaining safe areas and hope for help.

The ships that came to Eisnor’s rescue were a motley collection of freighters and tankers, the only vessels willing and able to divert. Beka was at the very front of the efforts for her town, making sure everyone got on board a shuttle and was carried away to safety. She forced her own family onto one of the first ships out and stayed back to help. Unfortunately, her own ride was hit by flying rock from an eruption and crashed in the equatorial jungle. She doesn’t remember much of what happened but she regained consciousness on board an aging cargo vessel called the Riftrunner with nothing but some minor cuts and bruises.

The Riftrunner arrived at Starbase 223 near Corinth with the other stragglers. Much to Beka’s dismay she had been listed amongst the dead, and her family had already packed up and moved on by the time she arrived. They were gone and she had absolutely no idea where to. She had nothing of her own and nowhere to stay, and even though the Sydesh family had no way of knowing she was still alive, their leaving broke Beka’s heart.

Not thinking straight, she accepted an offer from the Riftrunner’s captain for sanctuary on board the ship, in exchange for his help trying to trace her family. Beka didn’t realise how much of a mistake she’d made until the first skirmish. The Riftrunner’s crew were space trash scavengers, cruising the Alteran Expense looking for things they could sell to the Ferengi, the Romulans or the Federation and living perilously close to the edge.

It was a harsh existence but one that Beka was well equipped to survive. She was smart enough to learn how to help keep the engines ticking over as well as the crew, and picked up a lot about how to defend herself and use a gun when she had to.

When the ship’s doctor, a jaded and deeply unpleasant man known as Tox, was killed during a confrontation with a Romulan transport, Beka took his place. She was young but already her intelligence and drive were obvious, and she had one massive plus on her side – those that she treated usually survived, even those that should have succumbed to the treacherous conditions, dangerous lifestyle and poor diet. She really thrived with the responsibility and the respect it brought her amongst the crew.

It was 2 years later when the Riftrunner’s luck finally ran out, and the ship was all but destroyed by a Ferengi marauder. Beka and the handful of survivors were rescued by the USS Phoenix. It wasn’t a simple rescue – the Riftrunner was a big ship and the Star Fleet team had to go in wearing environmental suits. When they reached the makeshift infirmary they found Beka, covered in the blood of those she was still trying to treat even as the ship fell apart around her.

The Phoenix’s CO, Cdr Vonn D’Jaoun, took a personal interest in Sydesh. She was fascinated by the young redhead, who had the conviction to argue with the medical staff trying to treat her and the other Riftrunner survivors. What really caught the CO’s attention was how Beka would take in the detailed explanations that she pressed for and accept the corrections. Vonn decided quickly that she wanted to steer Beka towards Star Fleet, seeing the potential the girl had.

The Phoenix was on a long patrol and wouldn’t return to Starbase for another 6 months; when the rest of the Riftrunner’s crew transferred to a passenger liner en route to a Starbase, Beka stayed on at D’Jaoun’s request. The CO taught her young charge how to access the wealth of information available from the ship’s computer and helped guide her studies, pointing her to medical texts to fill in gaps in her knowledge and broaden her education, whilst getting her time with the medics in Sickbay.

Once the Phoenix returned to base, Vonn urged Beka to travel to Earth to a school in Copenhagen that specialised in helping those who had an incomplete education, as a precursor to the Academy and a Star Fleet career. A revitalised Sydesh didn’t need telling twice. The teachers there worked to harness her ferocious drive and temper her apparently limitless enthusiasm, and whilst she remains headstrong and sometimes impetuous, this is still a huge improvement on the ball of energy that arrived in Copenhagen.

The Academy soon followed. Being surrounded with people who were just as keen and able as her was a revelation to Beka and she threw herself into her studies. She was one of those students who worked hard and made those around her work harder, fuelled by her competitive streak and wicked sense of humour. She was most definitely not universally popular though, as those same qualities could alienate some just as much as drive others. She took it in her stride, learning the lesson that as a medic she was obligated to help everyone regardless of their opinions of each other.

When the time came to graduate, Vonn D’Jaoun came back to Earth for the ceremony. The two of them spent a long time catching up, and the words of encouragement from her mentor gave Sydesh a massive lift as she readied herself for her first assignment.

She was posted to the USS Artemis, joining up with the crew just before the Pathfinder Expedition departed for the Delta Quadrant. Beka was much more confident and assertive than most new graduates, and she found an early niche dealing with the louder and more boisterous patients that came through the doors of the Medical Complex. One of her first patients was Evie Crawford, daughter of the ship’s CO Tyra, and the young doctor took it in her stride.

The Artemis’ first mission in the Delta Quadrant involved the evacuation of a Talaxian asteroid base that had been attacked by Kazon. Midshipman Sydesh led a small medical team that was initially set to work with the ‘walking wounded’, treating cuts, bruises and broken bones. When the Talaxian chief doctor Bix was incapacitated by heart failure and transported to Artemis for treatment, Beka stepped up. She carried out a string of life-saving operations and was instrumental in the transfer of patients to the Sickbays of the Pathfinder ships for transport to New Talax, building out an infirmary on board the Talaxian ship Wixiban for the trip and working as hard as anyone to get proper medical facilities in place on the newly settled world when they arrived.

Beka was awarded the Star Fleet Commendation Medal for her outstanding performance. Unfortunately things weren’t so clear-cut and praiseworthy outside of the Medical Complex. She was reprimanded by the First Officer Jenny Braggins for brawling in the ship’s gym, clashed with Chief of Security Coleman after a misunderstanding about his past, and embarked on a short-lived relationship with Nathan Ramius that ended with her being dumped halfway through their second date at a Halloween party. Most infamously, when the away team was assembling to go to the Talaxian asteroid base, Sydesh saw two officers having an ‘intimate’ conversation outside the transporter room and decided to wolf-whistle them whilst blaming someone else. That decision backfired spectacularly when the two officers were revealed as the Artemis’ Quartermaster Cera Morgan, queen of the ship’s information networks, and the Chief Engineer Benjamin Elias.

The young doctor’s antics were enough to earn her some tough conversations, not least with the CMO Commander Tyrol. To her credit Beka didn’t hide away from the consequences of her actions, and she accepted that she needed to change. Her full-throttle, all-energy style had carried her through the Riftrunner and the Academy, but it was severely hurting her prospects on Artemis.

The next couple of weeks were probably the most formative time in Sydesh’s life to that point. Jenny Braggins agreed to mentor the fiery Midshipman, and the FO’s tough love and experience were a huge help. Beka took part in training exercises with the Security department to show she understood both the military discipline expected of her and how to perform as part of a team. She also took a communications course to better understand how to handle herself in the field, and leadership training to make sure she knew what was expected of her.

Beka also earned her taekwon-do black belt at this point, and it was a huge deal for her. She was lucky and tough enough to have emerged from the destruction of Eisnor and her time on the Riftrunner with relatively few mental scars from her experiences. But one of them was a preoccupation with being able to defend herself. When she was rescued by the USS Phoenix, she weighed a feeble 89lbs and had spent years sleeping in remote corners of the cargo bay, clutching an old disruptor to stay safe. Cdr D’Jaoun, a 3rd-dan black belt in taekwon-do, started to train Sydesh in self-defence and showed her a few moves, and the girl took to it like a natural and stuck with it. Her competitive streak was kept reasonably in check at the Academy but once she joined a crew, she felt a constant need to prove herself and demand the respect of her peers. Training sessions could quickly get out of hand if she felt slighted, and that had caused the fight that got her barred from sparring in the Artemis’ gym. With a black belt around her waist though, she felt validated, like there was no need to prove that she wasn’t that runt off a backwater freighter any more. She was someone that could protect herself and those around her if she needed to.

This also showed itself in how she used her free time away from the Medical Complex. Sydesh still trained to maintain the high levels of fitness and honed physique she worked so hard to get. But she went from someone who spent pretty much every waking hour either working or working out, to making a point of spending just as much time indulging her creative side. This balance helped her gain some perspective, improve her mental health and make sure that her energy and drive was channelled into the right places.

All of her hard work didn’t go unnoticed and Beka was promoted to Ensign, something that had looked to be in doubt as the misdemeanours racked up. In a real show of faith from Dr Tyrol, she was also asked to step up and lead the Medical Complex floor in the absence of the CMO and the supervising doctor.

As a new mission starts, Ensign Sydesh is keen to show just how much she’s learned from her mistakes and grown as a person.

Personality Profile

Academy Major(s): Medical training, following the surgical track and specialising in trauma and emergency medicine
Academy Minor(s): Xenobiology and advanced surgical techniques. Unusually she also studied field engineering. She learned a lot of shortcuts and bodges keeping the Eisnoran equipment and the Riftrunner going, many of which were considered needlessly dangerous by actual engineers. For her it was important to learn the ‘right way’ to do things, even if it did keep her at the Academy another year.
Hobbies and Pastimes: When she first joined Star Fleet, Beka spent 95% of her spare time training and working out. Whilst she does put in a lot of gym time now, she also make a point of indulging her creative side. She has a keen interest in designing clothes, manipulating replicator patterns and using wearable tech to produce some unique garments. She makes most of what she wears and occasionally creates things for her friends too. Tattoos have always fascinated her and she has a sketchbook full of potential ideas to add to her ink. She’s also rekindled her love of freestyle and 5-a-side football, having been introduced to the sport at catch-up school in Copenhagen.
Short-Term Goals: Establish herself on board a Star Fleet vessel and save her first life in a teal tunic. Make the most of her ‘new start’. Show that the confidence that has been placed in her was not misplaced.
Long-Term Goals: There’s no hiding her ambition – Beka wants to be a ship’s captain one day. She knows it could be 10 or 20 years before she’s ready for that, if she’s ever ready, but she’s more than driven enough to apply herself and push hard to get there
Personality: Beka is extroverted, loud and polarising, and has grown into a muscular and athletic young woman who can more than handle herself physically. But underneath all that is a formidable intellect, an icy calmness under fire and someone who will move mountains to do the best for anyone that needs her help
Sense of Humor: The killer one-liner to lighten the mood or bring someone down a peg or two is Beka’s hallmark
Phobias: For much of her life, Sydesh was just about able to get enough food to survive, meaning she was physically weak until her rescue from the Riftrunner. As strong as she is now, she is haunted by nightmares of being left that feeble, skinny runt again.
Likes: Good food, good company and adrenaline-fuelled holodeck programs.
Dislikes: When word spread around Artemis about her past on freighters, she was called a pirate and a scavenger behind her back. She absolutely hated being judged by people who hadn’t even met her.
Pet Peeves or Gripes: Like most doctors she’s a terrible patient herself, forever trying to intervene in her own treatment no matter who the doctor is.
Bad Habits or Vices: Beka is hyper-competitive, and freely admits to being an awful loser. After an uneasy and unhealthy relationship with alcohol for much of her life, she went teetotal after being put on the call roster for the first time as a Midshipman and hasn’t touched the stuff since.
Achievements: Overcoming her difficult childhood to join Star Fleet, and performing well enough on her first mission to earn a medal from the demanding Artemis command staff.
Disappointments: Not being able to trace her family despite the efforts she’s gone to. She still hopes that one day, she’ll be able to find them and show them what she made of herself
Illnesses: Beka suffered with malnutrition right up until she was rescued by the USS Phoenix. She needed infusions and minor surgery to correct her development but is now healthy and strong
Strengths: She is incredibly cool under pressure, and able to make use of her fierce intelligence to improvise and learn quickly. She’s also in peak physical condition, fit and strong enough to keep pace with the most strenuous days Star Fleet can throw at her with plenty left in the tank, and a formidable close quarters opponent for anyone due to her blazing speed and pinpoint taekwon-do technique.
Weaknesses: Her drive can be abrasive, her calmness misinterpreted as a lack of urgency and there are many social cues that she’ll miss or not understand. She will often have to be ordered to abandon a lost cause or to let something go
Fears: Making a mistake and killing someone in her care. It happened before on the Riftrunner through inexperience and now that she’s had full Star Fleet training, Beka feels that there are no excuses for it happening again
Prejudices: Beka can’t understand why people are proud of being in the same job for x amount of years. She believes that they should always be trying to improve themselves, and isn’t shy about telling them that
Off Duty Clothing Tastes: Left to her own devices, Sydesh usually wears hooded jumpers and tiny shorts to be comfortable. When she does decide to dress up, pretty much always in clothes she designs and makes herself, she actually has a real sense of style and a knack for knowing what suits her and what doesn’t.
Distinguishing Features: When she arrived on Earth, Beka was covered in scars and tattoos from a harsh few years in space. She had everything removed and then 2 of the tattoos redone properly. There’s an ornate stylised phoenix wrapped around her upper left arm, with the wings reaching across the front and back of her shoulders. On the underside of her right forearm are the words Can’t Rain All the Time, one of her father’s favourite sayings. As she normally works with her sleeves rolled up, the latter tattoo is usually visible.
Friends: She’s particularly close to 4 fellow officers. She had a rough start with her room-mate Nathalie Okehampton, but the two eventually found common ground and are genuine friends nowadays. Beka and Eli McKenna joke they have a ‘womance’ going on, only reinforced by Beka being the one to surgically repair Eli’s knee and finally fix an old and troublesome injury. Robin Mayfair and Sydesh bonded as ‘outsiders’ in the Medical department, both of them being targeted for grief for their backgrounds but still climbing the ranks. And despite their romance being cut short, Beka still has a soft spot for Nathan Ramius, and she’s glad they can still talk and hang out.
Referrer: Former player 5 or so years ago

Personal Paradigm Shifts

Most Painful Experience: Being separated from her family on Starbase 223. Beka had forced them onto one of the first transports off Eisnor and it proved to be a fateful decision. After her shuttle crashed Beka was listed as a casualty and they were told she couldn’t possibly have survived. Stricken with grief, the Sydesh family shipped out the day before the Riftrunner finally docked, almost a week after the first ships from Eisnor. The realisation was a crushing weight on young Beka’s shoulders.

The wound caused by the separation is still an open one. Even with the help of Federation resources, Beka has been completely unable to find her family, and it still eats away at her whether she’ll admit it or not. The fact that the Eisnoran settlers were independent means that the Sydesh family probably moved off to another world outside of Federation jurisdiction but that’s a total guess on Beka’s part. She just doesn’t know. And if they have left, they could have gone literally anywhere.

Signing up to Star Fleet was a decision that she completely stands by. As a career path, it’s already given her so much. But there’s that nagging doubt at the back of her mind that she can’t silence, that says her parents would disapprove, that they’d be disappointed that she didn’t stand on her own. It’s a huge part of where her drive to succeed comes from. The more she’s accomplished by the time she does finally track them down, and she holds onto the belief that she will find them, the less the chances that they’ll reject her
Best Time: Being taken under Cdr D’Jaoun’s wing on board the USS Phoenix. Beka started to grow as a person in more ways than one. She had always had to scrap and fight for every morsel of food, between the rations on Eisnor and the competition for enough to eat on her old crew. There was very little meat on her bones when she first came aboard the Phoenix, to the point where she needed infusions and minor surgery to get her malnourished body to develop properly. The Phoenix showed her there was another way. With a literally bottomless feast available via the ship’s replicators and a fully stocked gym, Beka filled out quickly and developed a taste for exercise that she still hasn’t lost
Most Crucial Experience: When she was introduced to Disney films on Earth, having just turned 18. She didn't hit puberty until late because of her development problems, but then it all hit her at once. At first Beka couldn’t get enough of the Disney princesses, and it took her a while to understand that it wasn’t because she wanted to be one, it was because she was developing a crush on Elsa and Aurora. At first she thought she was gay, but it soon became apparent that whilst she preferred women, she could be attracted to someone regardless of gender or species. At first this ‘awakening’ made her feel like there was something wrong with her and for a while she hid it. After she broke down in class, a counsellor at her catch-up school helped her realise that she was pansexual and that it was completely natural, helping her feel comfortable in her own skin.
Role Model: Beka isn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of role models – she wants to be herself and not dedicate her life to being like someone else. But she looks up to Vonn D’Jaoun most of all and if there was someone she would want to be like, it’s the half-Bajoran captain. Vonn saw something in Beka and took the time to win the girl’s trust, sponsoring her entry into a special ‘catch-up’ school and ultimately the Academy. They’re still in touch and the phoenix tattoo on Sydesh’s arm is a tribute to Cdr D’Jaoun, the person who gave her a future.

Career History

Position	Assignment	Date(s)	Event
Cadet	Star Fleet Academy	242004.16	Graduate
Medical Officer	USS Artemis, EX-11000	242004.17	Midshipman
Medical Officer	USS Artemis, EX-11000	242006.01	Role Player of the Month
Medical Officer	USS Artemis, EX-11000	242012.01	Role Player of the Month
Medical Officer	USS Artemis, EX-11000	242012.01	Star Fleet Commendation Medal
Medical Officer	USS Artemis, EX-11000	242102.20	Ensign
Medical Officer	USS Artemis, EX-11000	242201.01	Role Player of the Month
Medical Officer	USS Artemis, EX-11000	242201.01	Star Fleet Commendation Medal
Medical Officer	USS Artemis, EX-11000	242207.01	Lieutenant Junior Grade
Medical Officer	USS Artemis, EX-11000	242308.01	Outstanding Unit Citation

Medals Tally:

Service Medals Awarded
Image	Description	Qty.
	Star Fleet Commendation Medal	2
	Outstanding Unit Citation	1
Achievement Medals Awarded
Image	Description	Qty.
	Role Player of the Month	3

Contact Information

E-Mail: bekasydesh@gmail.com

Supplemental Information

Next Character: Calleja, Mara

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