Jennifer Porter

Jennifer was born on New Berlin, Luna, Sol System on January 31, 2265 to Frank and Lily Porter. Neither of her parents were in Starfleet, but both were supportive of her efforts to get accepted to Starfleet Academy. Jennifer was accepted, and in 2287, she graduated from the Academy as a flight officer. She was assigned to the USS Maverick, where she would spend her entire career before sacrificing herself as acting captain in order to save her crew and civilian ships evacuating from a planet being bombarded by a Klingon task force.

The Porters have long been a family of pilots dating back to Earth’s Second World War when her ancestor, Jason Porter, was a pilot for Great Britain. Since then, most of the generations of Porters have served in the military as pilots, through the Third World War, the formation of the Federation, and all the way up to her.

However, when it came to Jennifer, she chose to do what few in the past had done, and that’s to serve as a pilot of a starship. Her mother was a civilian shuttle pilot that ferried people back and forth between San Francisco and New York City each day. Occasionally, Jennifer would ride along with her mom, Laura. She enjoyed flying, but what really caught her eye were the starships that she would sometimes see in low-Earth orbit.

When the time came to choose a career while in high school, being a pilot of some kind was on the top of her list. Naturally, her mom wanted her to apply to the same shuttle company that she worked for, which Jennifer did. However, Jennifer also sent in several other applications, including one to Starfleet Academy. Her grades were good enough to get her into Starfleet, but when she told her parents of her choice to attend the Academy, Laura was upset with her decision.

Despite knowing the family military tradition, Laura didn’t agree with this decision. Her father, David, was ok with it, especially knowing that once Jennifer’s mind was made, it was tough to change it. Laura, however tried her hardest to get Jennifer to change to a civilian piloting school. This angered Jennifer to the point that she decided to stop talking to her mom.

The start of the Academy for Jennifer was tough. Not only was she dealing with courses that were harder than she expected, but not being able to talk to her mom, like she always used to, was very tough for her. David did his best to try and help Jennifer, and to mend the relationship between his wife and daughter, but it didn’t work.

About halfway through her first semester, Jennifer got a message from her dad saying that Laura had been seriously injured in a shuttle accident. Jennifer quickly got permission from her platoon leader to go visit her mom in the hospital. When she got to the room where her mom was, she saw her aunt and uncle standing outside the doorway, her aunt crying and her uncle holding her. Jennifer walked in the room and saw her dad sitting next to the bed holding his wife’s hand.

Jennifer went to the other side of the bed and held her Laura’s other hand. The two exchanged apologies and came to peace with each other regarding what had come about between them, and Jennifer even updated Laura about what had happened so far at the Academy. Unfortunately, their loving reunion came to an end shortly thereafter when Laura succumbed to her injuries. Jennifer’s tears were both of sadness and happiness.

Knowing that her mother did, indeed, support her decision to join Starfleet, Jennifer became even more determined to prove herself as a student and an officer. True to her drive, she finished third in her class. When it came to picking her first posting, she chose the USS Maverick, a soon-to-be-launched Excelsior-class starship that needed CONN officers.

Upon arriving to the drydock at Utopia Planitia, she met with the first officer before boarding and making her way to her quarters. A few days later, the ship departed for its maiden voyage. Though Jennifer wasn’t the Chief Helm Officer, she was allowed to watch the ship to disembark from the bridge. After floating out of the drydock, the Maverick and crew made their way towards the Beta Quadrant to explore two newly claimed Federation systems.

Jennifer made sure to be the best officer that she could: always being early for her shifts, making sure she had every detail perfect in her reports, keeping her quarters regulation. However, as much as she was a by-the-book person, she also liked to let loose when she was off duty. She made friends with other crewmembers, including a new engineering ensign by the name of Amy Masterson. The two grew close to each other, and eventually Jennifer gathered up the courage to ask her on a date when the crew had shore leave aboard Starbase 15 in two weeks.

When the ship got to the starbase, Jennifer and Amy met at a Vulcan-Terran fusion restaurant and had an amazing meal. Afterwards, the two walked around the station and took in all the cultures that were on display, from shops and restaurants, to music and technology. A little into the walk, Jennifer took Amy’s hand. The night ended up being as perfect as the two of them could hope for.

Jennifer was promoted to Lieutenant, JG in 2289 and made Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer for the Maverick. Not long after her promotion, she was sent on a mission as a shuttle pilot to a first contact that ended up going bad quickly. While her, the first officer, and two science officers were flying down to a planet’s surface, the new species suddenly attacked the Maverick, killing a dozen crewmen and injuring many others, including Amy. While she was recovering from her injuries, Amy told Jennifer that she decided to resign from Starfleet. Although it would take Amy away from her, Jennifer made peace with the decision. The two decided to give a long-distance relationship a try, something that both were hoping would work out.

The end of 2292 saw Jennifer get promoted to full Lieutenant and made Chief Flight Control Officer after the current one was promoted and transferred to another ship. Jennifer had a front-row view of some of the ship’s best moments, from the highs of a few first contacts to the lows of war. Throughout all that she had been through, the crew of the Maverick had become a family to her.

Speaking of family, right after she got promoted to Lieutenant Commander and made Second Officer while the Maverick was in drydock at Earth for an overhaul, Jennifer decided to finally propose to Amy. Amy said yes, and the two decided to adopt a child. Jennifer had a few months of time with Amy and their new son, Jacob, before the upgrades to the Maverick were done and the ship set sail once again.

As the new Second Officer, it was Jennifer’s job to not only continue to drive the ship, but to act as the third-highest officer for the entire ship. She served as the acting commander whenever the Captain and Executive Officer weren’t available.

In early 2305, the Maverick was part of a Federation fleet that was sent to the edge of the Beta Quadrant to fight back a force of Klingon ships that were terrorizing through sectors of space. During the first battle, the ship’s Executive Officer was killed when the engineering console he was working at exploded, taking the XO and an engineering officer with it. The fleet won the battle, and Jennifer was made Acting Executive Officer until further notice. A few weeks later, after an admiral came aboard to meet with the captain and provide a much-needed morale boost to the fleet, the admiral gave Jennifer a battlefield promotion to Commander with the official post of Executive Officer.

Five months after her promotion, and seven months into the fleet’s mission, the Maverick and the remains of the fleet were on their way back to be recycled from the front lines when they received a distress call from a planet that was under attack from a squadron of Klingon ships. The Maverick and five other ships diverted to the system and came out of warp to see several Klingon ships firing on unidentified ships as they were leaving a large M-class planet.

Immediately, the Starfleet ships started drawing the fire of the Klingon ships. Although they were outnumbered more than two to one, the Starfleet ships put themselves in between the Klingons and the escaping ships. Starfleet was mostly successful in drawing the fire, but that meant that their ships were quickly overcome with green disruptor and torpedo fire. By the time the Klingon fleet had been knocked down to only three K’t’inga class battleships, the Maverick and the Miranda-class Horatio were left, and the Horatio wasn’t in great shape.

Seeing that the final evacuating ships were about to jump to warp away from the system, the Maverick’s bridge was hit with a torpedo, causing an explosive decompression when the ready room was destroyed, blowing out the door from the bridge. Unfortunately, before the emergency bulkhead could shut in place of the door, the Captain and tactical officer were sucked out into space.

After the realization hit, Jennifer took command of the ship. She immediately directed all torpedoes to be put on the most damaged ship. A volley of four photon torpedoes slammed into the engines and neck of the K’t’inga ship, destroying it. The remaining two ships split up to attack the Maverick from different angles. As the two ships were bearing down on the Maverick, the Horatio came back into the fight and fired off their last torpedoes at one of the Klingon ships, taking out a warp nacelle and damaging the engines. Unfortunately, the damaged K’t’inga ship was able to fire their disruptors and hit the Horatio in the engineering section, disabling their primary core.

With the Maverick’s weapons down and the last K’t’inga still with power, Jennifer ordered the crew to abandon ship. Once the last escape pods were away, Jennifer set a collision course for the last Klingon ship. She pushed all remaining power to the forward shields, including life support. The shield ended up being just strong enough to hold off the fire from the Klingons before the Maverick slammed into the side of the K’t’inga class ship at full impulse. Both ships exploded, leaving the damaged Horatio to await the rest of the fleet which received their distress call.

News of Jennifer’s death and the destruction of the Maverick made it to Amy. Her sadness wasn’t just for Jennifer, but for a crew that she had also grown close to. Regardless of this, she still raised her son to respect all that Starfleet and the Federation have to offer, and when the time came, she encouraged him to join Starfleet like both of his parents did.