Ceciri Ariadust

Ceciri was born to a relatively simple family. Her mother was a politician, a cousin to the mainline Ariadust political dynasty, and her father was a miner. While her mother had hopes that her daughter would join her and strengthen her branch of the Ariadust dynasty, Ceciri showed a marked aptitude for engineering and mechanical repair. While her mother tried to push her more towards activities that would lead to success as a politician, her father subtly encouraged Ceciri’s interest as she had seen from the mines how a good mechanic and engineer was valued.

From an early age, her mother’s anti-Starfleet sentiments had caused her to take a blow with the events of Wolf 359 and Starfleet’s subsequent response. While her mother had dampened her criticisms, many in the Cygnian government remembered that she had been advocating for lower spending for Federation defense. Consequently, she lost a lot of political power, and she irrationally blamed Starfleet for that even further. With the Dominion War (starting in 2373), her mother surprisingly advocated for more focus to be spent on Federation defense, as well as a general upgrade to Cygnian defenses in an attempt to revive her political fortunes by seizing the war effort. During the upgrade plans, the surprise invasion and occupation of Betazed caused a panic within the Cygnian government, and her mother attempted to capitalize on it to revive her fortunes and advocate reducing manpower and resources sent to Starfleet. Unfortunately for her, her cousin Sharioni Ariadust deftly outmaneuvered her and turned it around, believing strongly that the problem was they sent too few personnel to Starfleet – even at the height of the Dominion War, the portion going offworld was still near .005%. In addition, now that the mainline government was heavily into emergency upgrades of their defense network and creating a mini starbase for the system, she was suddenly disgraced.

The death of Ceciri’s father on shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Bajor left and her mother had no choice but to join their aunt’s shipping venture. At the time, the entire venture was one ship that usually ran cargo, but would often also transport single passengers depending on need. This venture often ran around the Serellan Sector and to nearby starbases, but often ran to spinward directions and the outer colonies. Often operating outside the Federation coreworlds, Ceciri found her Engineering instincts tested and she became rapidly adept at the practicals of maintaining a cargo ship and starship repair. From 2374 to 2378, she gained more responsibility and became a relief pilot as well, having a few close calls, including one at on a remote frontier world.

At the time, she had considered just to continue on her current path. While Ceciri had become very grateful for Starfleet during the years where she had to travel back and forth, she was enough of her mother’s daughter to be deterred from joining them. However, in 2378, the ship she was on was ambushed on a trade route just outside of Cardassian Space by pirates. Their cargo was stolen, and in the boarding action, her uncle died, and she, her cousin, and her aunt were grievously wounded.

And then, the pirates suddenly returned to their ship and attempted to escape. The USS Kitakaze had heard the distress call and was close enough to respond in time. Ceciri’s next memory is of waking up in the sickbay of the Dakota-class ship. While they were able to save her and her aunt, her cousin was too far gone, and she died in surgery. Soon after, Ceciri resolved to join Starfleet and honor those who had protected her. Her mother was less than happy with this decision, as she blamed Starfleet for the ability of the pirates to attack. However, Ceciri opted to join Starfleet, opening an rift between them that is still open to this day. Graduating from Starfleet Academy in 2382, she served on various ships before being assigned to the Pioneer in 2389.