Heather Kowal

Heather was born aboard the USS Venture her parents both serving as officers aboard the ship. She spent most of the first two years of her life aboard the ship. When her parents had both completed their tours her mother had elected to resign her commission and her father was moving on in his career with her mother in tow. Between assignments, they elected to return to Earth so they could introduce Heather to her mother’s parents. During the stay on Earth, her parents left Heather with her Grandmother and went away for a few days on a small vacation alone. The plan was for them to return the night before her second birthday but sadly they were involved in a transport accident and were both killed.

From the time of her parent’s death on her Grandmother became Heather’s guardian. Heather grew up hearing tales of her parents from her mother’s childhood, to their meeting, and their time together up until Heather’s birth and finally when they passed on. Heather was always fascinated with the stories, movies, and even her mother’s diary she knew from a young age that she would join Starfleet like her parents.

Heather’s first time aboard a Starship came at the age of ten when the USS Venture was in orbit of Earth. Her grandmother managed to reach out to the command and got them a tour aboard the ship. Heather was able to tour the ship from top to bottom, sit in the command chair at the bridge, simulate being in command in the holodeck, saw the sickbay she was born in, and the quarters she lived in as an infant. From that moment on there were never any questions about what her life plans were.

When she finally reported to the Starfleet Academy her dreams became a reality. Despite the grueling first months of the Academy preparing them for service to the Federation in a much more Bootcamp like setting they finally moved from plebe to becoming a full-fledged Cadet Fourth Class. Upon completion of the plebe summer, they also received their first bunk assignments and met their roommates for the rest of the year.

The cadets in Starfleet Academy were assigned dual occupancy rooms and when Heather arrived she saw on the door her name and underneath ‘Oanez V. Lozac’h’. She wondered however she was going to learn how to pronounce that. She entered the room finding the girl inside she was adorable and she must have been some sort of child prodigy she didn’t even look old enough to be in the academy.

“My god you’re so cute,” were the first words Heather spoke to her roommate. As it turns out Oanez was only a year younger than her but even that was impressive. Heather endeavored for the first three days to properly pronounce Oanez’s name but after failing repeatedly she gave up and settled on the nickname ‘Oval’ a play on her initials OVL. In response, Oval decided that she would call Heather “Herky” a play-off her own initials, or so Oval said, HRK. The two girls became inseparable during their time in the academy and ended up being roommates for their entire four years.

Heather’s studies at the academy followed in the footsteps of her parents. Her primary degree was in Intergalactic Relations her mother serving as a Diplomatic Officer and having wanted to be an ambassador. Her father was an Engineer which was something she honestly had no interest in but he was also a huge history buff which she loved so she minored in Earth History, her father’s favorite. Heather excelled in her classes and discovered that her personal desire was to go up the command track and to have her own command. It was found out from a professor her Second Class year who had served with her parents that her father was due to report to a starship as its Executive Officer.

Upon graduation, the unstoppable team of Herky and Oval were broken up. Oval was going to Outpost 39 as a Science Officer experimenting on species and data collected from the Horuuilis expanse an area of space being explored by Task Force 39 which was headquartered at the Outpost. Heather, on the other hand, was going to a starship the defiant classed USS Valiant as Chief of Tactical and Security.

Heather was delighted to be reporting to her first unit as a Department Head even if that particular unit was very tiny. She made fast friends with the senior officers and her department members all seemed to like and respect her as well. At her six-month anniversary, the ship’s second officer and Chief Engineer was reassigned and she was assigned as the new Second Officer by the CO. She had also received a commendation for her service as Officer of the Deck during a crisis situation and a Law Enforcement boarding she had led in those six months. At her, 18 month anniversary of reporting aboard she was advanced to Lieutenant Junior Grade and continued to excel in her duties.

The next major event in her time aboard the Valiant came around her second anniversary aboard. A new Chief Medical Officer reported aboard, LTJG Jethro Holleboom. Jethro, according to Heather, was a ridiculous name and so she began to just call him Jay. While she was also not a huge fan of his last name and urged him to go by the English version of Hollowtree he said something about denying him his heritage so she let it go. Heather and Jay became fast friends and quickly beyond thankfully the command was supportive of their relationship providing they kept it professional on duty and quiet off duty. They were able to do so and spent their R&R time together off the ship and have become fairly serious over their years together.

Nearing the end of her tour on the Valiant its Commanding Officer had extended his tour aboard for another year and the Executive Officer was set to depart. Heather was hoping to move into the Executive Officer slot on Valiant in order to move into the command world quickly as well as to remain aboard with Jay as he still had time left on his own tour.

Unfortunately, unexpected orders came for Heather even prior to her expected end of tour aboard Valiant. Distraught about losing her posting alongside her boyfriend and disappointed in not being assigned as XO of the Valiant she was told to report to a new assignment aboard Starbase 86. Heather served for about nine months aboard Starbase 86 when unexpectedly being assigned to her very first command of the Diligent-class USS Serenity.