Mariposa Haywood
Male

Place of Origin: Earth (½ Human, ½ El-Aurian)

Mariposa has dark hair which sits just above shoulder length. Her eyes are dark hazel, and have often been described as being her best feature. Only being 5’5” and 121 lbs has never stopped her from achieving anything. Her youthful looks are down to her heritage, and people often mistake her for being younger than she actually is.

Mariposa is most definitely a “child of two worlds” – having been born on Earth to a mixed heritage. She is neither typically Human nor El-Aurisn in her mannerisms or personality, but rather a mix of both. She has excellent engineering knowledge due to her career, and still feels able to roll up her sleeves and get involved with any engineer related problem that may occur from time to time. She can have a short fuse at times, though this is usually centred around any frustration she may be experiencing at that time. Though these frustrations are often short-lived.

Her mother had escaped to Earth in 2293 after the El-Aurian homeworld was attacked by the Borg. She was one of 47 El-Aurian refugees that were rescued by the USS Enterprise-B when the ship they were travelling on, the SS Lakul, was destroyed by the spatial anomaly known as The Nexus. Settling on Earth after such a harrowing period in her life, Eryd Mulia soon found work as a mental health counsellor. She found the work incredibly rewarding, and it also helped her to deal with her own past trauma. In 2341 she met a dashing, young charismatic Starfleet Officer named Sylvester Haywood. The two soon fell in love and moved in together. Sylvester requested a transfer to Starfleet Command rather than starships so that he could stay close to Eryd. Eventually the two married in 2346 and the question of children naturally came about. After a few consultations with fertility and cross-species specialist doctors, it was deemed completely safe for the couple to try for a baby. Mariposa, named after her maternal grandmother, was born in August 2348. When a sample of her DNA was taken to see how the cross species compatibility had coped, the doctors found that while Mariposa would likely live for a couple of centuries, she would not live as long as an average El-Aurian. This mattered not to Sylvester and Eryd. Her upbringing and childhood were normal. She grew up in the neighbourhood of Seagate in New York City.Mariposa and her friends would often hang around in Coney Island fair watching Starfleet shuttles coming and going overhead. It’s at this point that Mariposa begun her interest in engineering and mechanics. She would sneak into the old Coney Island maintenance and overhaul yard and tinker and play with the rusting and long forgotten train and subway cars found within. After high school she studied bio and environmental technology at Clarkson University, Potsdam. During her time at the university, she realised that she could potentially enjoy a career in teaching. After graduating with a First Class honours degree in 2369, she remained at the university for a further year to enable her to achieve a post graduate certificate in education. Moving back to New York City in 2370 she gained a teaching position at Brooklyn Technical High School. During her time there she taught architectural engineering, mechatronics and electrical engineering. She found the role to be incredibly fulfilling, and she thoroughly enjoyed passing on her knowledge to future generations of engineers. But she always felt like she could give more. She always felt like she wasn’t quite reaching her full potential. The Dominion War (2373-2375) finally gave her the push that she needed to step outside of her comfort zone. She applied to enter Starfleet and decided that she could use her knowledge and engineering expertise to help humanity and the Federation. Entering Starfleet Academy in 2376, at the age of 28, she quickly settled back into the other side of academic life.

Her first posting after graduating from the academy in 2380 was onboard the USS Exeter. The long-range exploration ship was tasked with exploring the furthest reaches of Federation space, even further than the hundreds of Mintaka nebulae which formed a natural border. Upon the Exeter’s return to Federation space five years later, Mariposa was promoted to full Lieutenant and was recommended for transfer to the USS Halloran as Chief Engineering Officer. Taking up her new post on the Halloran in 2385, Mariposa found that leadership came naturally to her. She took charge of engineering from day one and made sure everyone knew what was expected from them under her management. Initially the engineering crew were wearing of this new officer coming in and shaking things up, but they soon learned to appreciate her and the knowledge she had brought with her. The Halloran’s engineering department became one of the most efficient departments in the quadrant, and the engineering team were recognised for their efforts by being awarded the Cochrane Engineering Medal by the head of Starfleet Engineering, Vice Admiral Gibson Gawelski. Mariposa was then offered the opportunity to become Chief Engineer and Second officer onboard the USS Triton under Captain Ndulue Adesina. Despite only having been on the Halloran for three years, she knew this was an opportunity she couldn’t pass on. So she joined the Triton in 2388 and started her new duties. The friction she’d felt onboard the Halloran was nothing compared to the cold reception she received from the engineering crew of the Triton. Many of the experienced crew felt that they could serve under a ‘little girl’ (with Mariposa being 40 years old at this time), despite being the explanation of her youthful appearance. Captain Adesina supported his new Chief Engineer and transferred those other crew members off his ship. He believed Starfleet and the Federation were places where tolerance and understanding should thrive, and those crew who refused to work under Mariposa did not advertise those ideals. The next step in Mariposa’s career came in 2391 when Captain Jenna D’Sora of the USS Shackleton personally approached Mariposa to become her new executive officer. The offer came as rather a shock to Mariposa as she had only been on the Triton for three years. However, after a long meeting with both Captains, Mariposa joined the Shackleton. Initially she found the change of duties hard to adapt to. She no longer had her sleeves rolled up in engineering, and she missed that aspect of her work. However, she adapted and soon became a highly valuable and appreciated first officer. She enjoyed taking command of the entire ship in Captain D’Sora’s absence and relished each opportunity to do so as they presented themselves. After four years as Captain D’Sora’s right hand woman, Mariposa’s exemplary professionalism, work ethic, and service record meant command came calling. The USS Pendragon was in need of a commanding officer, and Mariposa was top of Starfleet’s list of candidates.