Tara Elizabeth Valentine

Rank: Ensign

Species: Human (Londinium, New Brittany colony)

Position: Vehicle Maintenance Officer

Summary:

2349: She is born in her parents' home to New Brittany spaceport maintenance engineer Bart Valentine and farmer Tialya Valentine.

2366: Tara is abruptly transferred from the local public school to Foxwood, a private all-female academy on the other side of the planet, at her parents' insistence. Her extracurricular activities include the debate team and student council, the school's soccer team, and playing banjo (badly) in a local bluegrass band. Despite her full schedule, she excels in her studies.

2367: She graduates from Foxwood Academy and enters Starfleet Academy three months later, declaring her firm determination to follow the engineering path, specializing in engines themselves. Her first few months at SFA are riddled with minor disciplinary infractions, but they clear up as she settles in.

2371: CDT Valentine is assigned to the USS Cochise for her Cadet Cruise. Her outstanding work in the Engineering department is countered by her discipline slipping slightly, and she finishes the cruise with only an average rating. Graduating from the Academy in the top third of her class, she is assigned to Starbase 116 as Vehicle Maintenance Officer.

2371: A long string of Captain's Mast incidents begins to dog ENS Valentine. She rapidly acquires a reputation as a maverick and troublemaker outside of work. Not a single incident involving duty or taking place during duty hours is noted; Captain Gregory Riley does note her excellent performance of her duties and conscientious work ethic in between notations of informal reprimands, brief stays in the brig, and base restrictions.

2374: Disciplinary actions abruptly cease to be added to Tara's file.

2377: Tara is promoted to Lieutenant, j.g. That night, she and another officer are involved in an incident which results in charges of Public Intoxication, Conduct Unbecoming an Officer, Reckless Endangerment, and Destruction of Starfleet Property. She is demoted to Ensign two days later, and receives her first Official Reprimand. Classified to Security Clearance 5.

2377: ENS Valentine requests a transfer; Captain Riley approves and expedites the request. Though Tara is unaware of it, he makes sure she receives an assignment that will allow her the opportunity to continue working in her chosen specialties and redeem her record, and she is assigned to Station 419-Upsilon, again as Vehicle Maintenance Officer.

2377: ENS Valentine participates in the victorious battle against the Eater of Worlds, staffing bridge engineering on the USS Thomas Paine. For unknown reasons, she is one of the few unaffected by the Eater's psionic beam.

2377: An Operations crew of 419-U, including ENS Valentine, is inadvertently kidnapped to the Mirror Universe. They are stranded there for eight days, during which time they assist a local resistance group in the rescue of its imprisoned leaders. In exchange, the group gives Tara the device they use to transfer back and forth between the universes. Upon her return to 419-U, she delves into study of the device, with little success. Classified to Security Clearance 5.

2377: ENS Valentine hands over the device to Starfleet Sciences for further study, to further the rescue efforts of a fellow crewmember who was stranded in the Mirror Universe, and is instrumental in installing a similar device aboard the USS Thomas Paine for the rescue efforts. She participates in the successful rescue mission. Classified to Security Clearance 5.

2377: ENS Valentine is appointed Acting Assistant Chief of Engineering on Station 419-Upsilon during a massive personnel shortage.

Proficiencies: Tara is a good all-around engineer, with exceptional talent in working with engines. She is dedicated and hard-working, and quick to volunteer for extra shifts and duties when the need arises. She is also fiercely determined- stubborn- refusing to give up under even the direst circumstances.

Deficiencies: Valentine has been known to have a bit of an attitude problem at times; worse, she has suffered a tendency to allow her frustration with bureaucracy and senior officers to show through, a habit she's working hard to correct. She can also be somewhat impulsive- sometimes it works out alright; sometimes it doesn't.