Andy Robinson

Early Life

Andrea was born during the winter of 2378 on Benecia Colony.  Almost immediately she was surrendered by her birth mother and placed in government care.  She was fostered by Marc Robinson and his partner who wished to have a family.  Marc would later formally adopt Andrea but it was not until she was a teenager that she was fully told her origin story.  To date, she has not attempted to find out more about her biological family. As a child, Andrea had difficulty pronouncing her given name, so shortened it to ‘Andy’. She chooses to be addressed by the latter rather than the former.

As a child, perhaps internalising the differences she observed between her two-father same gender family and other more ‘traditional’ male-female parents in biologically-related families, Andy felt ill at ease and began to withdrew into herself.  Eventually, a sympathetic teacher noticed her isolation and introduced her to the Vulcan tenant of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations which helped Andy to realise that her origins were just as correct as anybody else’s.  Largely, though her childhood was a happy one.  She especially enjoyed being active, enjoying rock climbing and hiking among Benecia’s dunes, on one occasion being detained by civilian police for trespassing on private property.

Andy initially thought that she would follow in her father’s footsteps and become some sort of scientist – maybe even a doctor, but those careers never really ‘spoke’ to her.  One day, she discovered a battered military-style case in family storage and started asking questions.  Marc thought that it had once belonged to his great, great grandfather who had been a Starfleet officer in the late 23rd Century, but he didn’t know much more about it.  Trinkets from alien worlds and a medal for bravery were really exotic to her and young Andy kept returning to the trunk for inspiration and imagination.  The notion of space exploration seemed an exciting opportunity that she could not ignore, lest she look back at a youth spent on a dusty dirtball with regret. Her parents expressed concerns for her safety but were ultimately supportive of her decision to join.

Starfleet History

At the Academy, Andy was undecided what she wanted to do, initially pursuing a science-based track, but a charismatic instructor in a class on operations protocol convinced her to change her mind.  Logs indicate that during her second year, Andy attended classes at the Academy annex on Psi Epsilon III and undertook field training on Communication Relay Station 92.  Academy tests revealed that Andy suffers from a fear of falling, that manifests itself as an aversion to heights at specific ranges like the top of a tall ladder, an exposed balcony railing, or cliff ledge.  This fear has hampered her training in specific operational situations and she has received counselling, but it remains an issue.

Personality

Andy is eager to make her mark on the galaxy, approaching most problems with the arrogance of youth, yet this is offset with a large helping of inexperience and naivety about the workings of the galaxy-at-large.  She has no desire to make a career in uniform.  Yet, for her part, she is desperate to live up to the reputation of a man who died before she was even born, having built up his legacy in her mind.  She is fiercely proud of her colonial origins, and was disciplined for striking a fellow cadet who made a disparaging remark about her planet.  Regardless, her off world origins were also a private source of anxiety for her as she adjusted to being on Earth and away from home for the first time, yet she also drew strength from them as she argued that with her perspective of being from a world on the outskirts of the Federation, she had just as much to offer as someone from a planet closer in.