Lieutenant Kathleen Black

She's intelligent and a little naive, learned and a little experienced, apt to diagnose by intuition. She is an excellent engineer and very bright, but apt to forget proper rocedure and accidentally overstep her boundaries. For instance, she might perform or order a repair or tune-up that the Chief Engineer really should be approving/ordering first. She's been scolded for such infractions in the past. Although this may make her appear to have a streak of insubordination, the infractions are the result of genuine eccentricity.

She genuinely respects rank and is eager to say and do the right things in front of superior officers, but she is not 'socially graceful' and has a habit of embarrassing herself, especially when she's nervous, with inappropriate statements or questions. On the other hand, she does not shirk her work, even when it is difficult or dangerous, and she is never late to duty.

She can be given large or vague orders and trusted to carry them out with little supervision. She approaches life with a nervousness born from the feeling that she is always about to unintentionally upset someone, and the wry sense of humor formed by several experiences of unintentionally violating social mores in the past.

Since her parents are both career Starfleet, often on different ships and different missions, she was raised by her grandparents on the Eastern Seaboard, New England, possibly around Maine. Her grandparents are marine biologists operating off the waters between Long Island and the Canadian Maritimes. She sharpened her ability to hear tonals by learning to recognize marinelife sounds from childhood, particularly the call of the humpback whale, re-introduced almost a century ago into the marinelife environment (in 2286 by the, now, legendary crew of the USS Enterprise-A under command of Captain James T. Kirk). She was schooled in a quietly friendly environment and encouraged to express her creativity and individuality.

She found an affinity for engineering work, and was encouraged to go into Starfleet like her parents. She excelled in Starfleet Academy and graduated third in her class. In particular, from her experience with tonals in her youth, she is able to tell the health of the engines by ear, something that probably takes an experienced chief engineer years to develop. She spent a couple of years working on another starship as Ensign. The Chief Engineer admitted that she was a good worker, reliable and smart, but her tendency to treat "his" engines as her own irked him and he was frankly glad to be rid of her.

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