Veronica Reynolds
Male

Place of Origin: Phoenix, Arizona, Earth

Veronica is a woman of slim build. Her physical size has frequently led to her being underestimated, a fact she has exploited on numerous occasions. She has a small tattoo of a phoenix on her lower back, a reference to her place of birth and her favorite mythical creature. A lot of people have assumed there has to be some deeper meaning than that, but that’s really the extent of it.

She has the lingering scar across her abdomen, front and back, from a near fatal injury she suffered as a younger officer.

She tends to prefer her hair tied back while on duty, but tends to style it much more while enjoying personal time. Its part of her compartmentalization of her life that has kept her sane so far.

She’s is frequently seen wearing the a commemorative Starfleet Emblem for the USS Newton, on which several of her dear friends died, on a dog tag chain necklace under his uniform.

The Giver – ENFJ Personality

Veronica Reynolds has never struggled to find a fight. She’s not an intentionally combative person, but her personality has gotten her into trouble more than once. She is a strong willed individual, firmly set in her beliefs, and willing to fight harder than most to stick to those.

She is a generally cheerful person, but has a bit of a sharp edge to her personality. She’s idealistic, occasionally to a fault. She’s opinionated and not afraid to make herself known. There’s a sarcastic edge to her, but she doesn’t really tolerate nonsense under her command. That’s not to say that she doesn’t get along with her subordinates. But friendship with the CO isn’t an excuse to get yourself in trouble.

She holds herself as very formal while on duty, though that is somewhat a facade. In the past, she was nearly killed by a grievous injury in the line of duty, sidelined for months to recover, and is therefore much more aware of the risks she’s inflicting on her crew.

Despite plenty of training on how to survive it, she has no love for combat and will do her best to avoid such situations. That said, when she decides to throw down, her opponents would do well to take her seriously.

2235: The Early Years
Veronica Reynolds was born Febuary 12th, 2235 to Jacob and Mallory Reynolds in Phoenix, Arizona on Earth. Her family had a a history of Starfleet service on both sides. They had a modest planet side home where she grew up for a few years, before the gravity of Starfleet service pulled his parents back into space. From a very young age, she was used to the idea of being away from the planet for months at a time, and life aboard a starship came easy to her.

2245: First Losses
At the age of 10, Veronica had her first experience with battle. In a skirmish with the Klingons at Donatu V, the USS Agincourt, her home at the time, engaged one of the peripheral forces near Sherman’s Planet. The Agincourt only suffered minor casualties, but one of them was the ships head nurse, who Veronica had been close with. The loss was one of many that would eventually form Veronica’s attitude toward war.

2248: Inspiration to Join Starfleet
At the age of 13, Veronica was able to attend a Starfleet Command conference on exploration. The conference had been taking place aboard Starbase 6, her father’s station at the time. Despite the darkening mood of the time, several key officials, including Fleet Admiral Jonathan Archer, had advocated for sticking to Starfleet’s better angels. Veronica had considered the elderly admiral a personal hero even before the meeting, and having actually gotten to meet him only strengthened her resolve to get her own command.
It was around this time that her relationship with her father also began to sour. The two had always had a somewhat strained relationship, but it slowly turned more bitter. Veronica’s growing independence came with a rebellious streak and her father grew increasingly authoritarian. However, Mallory Reynolds, her mother, was able to smooth the relationship a bit.

2250:
For several months, Veronica left Starbase 6 to do a brief shadowing tour aboard the USS Charon. The CO was a close friend of her father’s and she was able to shadow numerous departments to help decide what direction she would pursue during her academic career. She was also able to experience life away from the shadow of her father for a little while.
During this time, Veronica met a friend who define the next few years of his life. T’Lok, a Vulcan who was also shadowing aboard the Charon. The two quickly developed a warm friendship, with them being nearly inseparable as they moved into the Academy years. T’Lok, a surprisingly mischievous Vulcan, would frequently pull Veronica into hijinks, though neither of them ever got into too much trouble.

2252-2256: Academy Years
At the age of 18, Veronica departed to join Starfleet Acadamy. Her parents were not even remotely surprised at this, as her bedroom had been a shrine to Starfleet history since she had been old enough to speak. However, it was still an adjustment for her. Suddenly, she was no longer with her family every day, but could only communicate with them via comm. Additionally, she was back on Earth, but not at the family home in Phoenix. Away from her father, but away from her mother as well. She struggled initially with this transition. She hadn’t honed her social skills with peers particularly well, as she was used to dealing with the personalities of the older officer’s aboard her father’s vessels. However, she eventually came into her own through no small amount of assistance from her Vulcan partner in crime T’Lok.
She found she had a knack for piloting and soon become one of the top pilots of her graduating class. She gained certifications in several smaller craft, before seeking out helm officer training.
In 2255, she was placed as a Cadet helm officer aboard the USS Kingdom. The tour was relatively uneventful, though she did get her first taste of combat piloting.
She soon returned to San Francisco and sought out command courses to round out her experience.

2257: The Klingon War of 2257
Veronica graduated directly into the brief, but tumultuous war with the Klingon Empire. She was assigned to the USS Bradbury. It was here that she met then Captain Sergei Denovitz, who quickly took her under his wing. The two would develop a strong mentor-mentee relationship which would last throughout her career.
For the next several months, she piloted the Bradbury to safety time and again. However, her luck ran thin. In a shockingly brazen attack, the Klingon forces decimated the defenses of Starbase 1, the station which Bradbury had been assigned to. The ship managed to escape the battle, but only just. Struck by a torpedo as it made the jump to warp. The bridge plating collapsed and a piece of it impaled the young helm officer. It was only the quick actions of the medical staff aboard the vessel that stopped the injury from becoming fatal.

Veronica spent the next few weeks in and out of consciousness and went into surgery several separate times to deal with the consequences of having a sizable metal beam go straight through a human abdomen. She was eventually transferred to Andoria for more medical treatment.

2258: Narada Incident
Veronica had only just returned to service when news came in of an attack on Vulcan. Her vessel, the Bradbury, had been part of the fleet in the Laurentian System. Though called upon by the Enterprise to deal with the Narada, they never did meet up with the Constitution Class vessel, and the Narada was destroyed before the fleet became relevant.
Despite her distance from the activity, the event did not leave her unscathed. In addition to the fellow officers she knew aboard the Earth fleet vessels and on the planet Vulcan, she had lost someone very dear to her. Her mother had been on Vulcan for a conference at the time, and she was not among those rescued.
The loss permanently damaged the relationship between Veronica and her father. She had needed someone to rely on, but her father buried himself in his work. The darker aspects of his personality came to the forefront. His criticisms became harsher and more frequent. Regardless of her climbing accolades, nothing she did was ever good enough. The divide led to some extremely harsh words being traded and the two were soon barely speaking.
The Narada incident also in a way cost her the company of the closest friend she’d had. T’Lok, a talented Engineer and a member of the now endangered Vulcan race, felt compelled to resign from Starfleet and join the New Vulcan Colonization Initiative. The two would remain in frequent contact, and Veronica would become like an aunt to his young daughter in coming years, but it was the last time they would serve together.

2259-2260: Further Adventures
Veronica was transferred to the USS Cairo, where she finally became part of a deep space mission. The Cairo did was assigned to catalog nebulas in the Beta Quadrant, exploring countless systems along the way. The Federation had finally found peace, and Veronica found that helm was less intense when you weren’t being shot at. That wasn’t to say the journey was without conflict. Numerous skirmishes with Klingons, pirates, and other races kept things from getting too calm.
Due to her surprising amounts of experience for an officer her age, Veronica was made second officer of the Cairo. The transition toward more command duties confirmed her belief that that was her calling. She began to pursue a transfer to a vessel that would allow her a path to the command chair. Later that year, she transferred to the aged USS Zheng He, which was exploring space near the galactic center.
Her relationship to her father became outright hostile, with the Admiral frequently issuing scathing responses to her mission reports. One in person screaming match marked the last time they’d speak for over 2 years.

2261-2262: Climbing the Ranks
Veronica served as the Executive Officer of the Zheng He for 2 years, gaining valuable leadership experience from Captain Adebowale. The vessel was old, but it was home. Things proceeded smoothly for most of this time.
However, the Zheng He eventually hit uneasy waters. Cut off from Federation contact for a few weeks following an Ion Storm, the vessel was ambushed by an aggressive bunch of Nausican Mercenaries. Captain Adebowale was killed when the mauraders stormed the Zheng He, leaving Veronica in dire situation.
Mourning her mentor and dealing with her first true command situation, she tricked the Nausicans into following Zheng He into a dangerous nebula. Dodging wild energy discharges somewhat successfully, the older vessel used a torpedo trick to create an energy cascade, knocking out the Nausicans. After the return to Federation space, Veronica was promoted to Commander and granted command of the vessel.

2262: Her First Command
The USS Zheng He continued its survey of the galactic center. Veronica found that she grew into command relatively easily. The survey uncovered fascinating new data about the behavior of the inner-galactic blackholes, leading some to wonder if the supermassive blackhole at the center was contributing to this. However, the new command also came with difficult choices. A murder aboard her vessel brought her face to face with the darker decisions of the command chair. The perpetrator was one of her own noncommissioned officers and she struggled with her reactions to the situation. Her compartmentalization techniques wore a bit thin and some sharp words got her in trouble with a local dignitary and the admiral for the region. Regardless, she continued to command the vessel admirably.

Late 2262:
As new Klingon Aggression broke out, the Zheng He was recalled to Federation space. They participated in a few skirmishes, but the age of the ship prevented it from being a front line player.
It was at this time that a JAG investigation revealed that Veronica’s XO had been involved in a smuggling ring for much of that time. Veronica, feeling betrayed by the person she’d placed the most trust in, was forced to arrest her herself. The incident would shake Veronica’s trust in others for a time, but ultimately it would teach a valuable lesson. Never become complacent.
Following this, the Zheng He returned to its support missions for a brief time. The closest thing to direct action that the ship saw was the rescue operation at Outpost Belfast.
Not long after the battle, Veronica was given curious orders from Denovitz. Report to Starbase Arcadia for a new posting. Believing herself to be in trouble for her handling of a diplomatic mission, she had arrived at the station ready for a fight…only to learn of just how prestigious her new command would be.

2252-2256: Starfleet Academy

2257-2259: USS Bradbury, Mayflower-Class
Junior Helm Officer
2257: Extended Medical Leave, Andoria
2258: Promotion to Lieutenant, Return to USS Bradbury

2259-2260: USS Cairo, Cardenas-Class
Chief Helm Officer/Second Officer
2260: Promotion to Lieutenant Commander

2261-2262: USS Zheng He, Walker-Class,
Executive Officer, Strategic Operations Officer
2262: Promotion to Commander

2262-2263: USS Zheng He, Walker-Class
Commanding Officer
End of 2263: Promotion to Captain

2264: USS Defiant, Constitution Class
Commanding Officer