Olivia Vo

Olivia was born just three years before the Dominion War. When the fighting began, her parents, two Starfleet officers, sent Olivia to live on Earth with her grandparents. Both of her parents died at the Battle of Betazed, and she grew up with only brief recollections of her parents. Having little to no memories of her parents shaped a great deal of Olivia’s childhood; she never truly felt like she belonged anywhere, despite her grandparents caring for her every need.

From a young age, Olivia knew she wanted to join Starfleet and follow in her parents’ footsteps. The dream of traveling the stars made her feel closer to her parents; she felt that understanding her parents’ experiences would bring her some sense of closure. As soon as she was eligible, Olivia applied to Starfleet Academy and was accepted into their engineering program.

At the Academy, Olivia explored everything the school had to offer. On top of the program’s core curriculum, she also studied courses ranging from philosophy and creative writing to exobiology and probability mechanics. During her third year at the Academy, Olivia realized she wanted to pursue an interdisciplinary career beyond a focus in engineering. This led her on a path towards starship operations. She graduated with honors in 2392 and was assigned to the USS Melbourne.

The Melbourne was a 40-year-old vessel but, being a Nebula-class, it was a “working” vessel and gave Olivia plenty of room to explore her field. Despite a refit with the latest technology, the older vessel required constant upkeep to ensure the new technology fit with systems from the 2350s. Olivia enjoined the challenge, and often served in dual capacity as an operations relief officer and an engineering technician. In 2395, Olivia was promoted in recognition of her contributions to the department and the ship.

With her recent promotion, Olivia was now on the shortlist for Assistant Chief. While she enjoyed the work that her colleagues put into earning the position, she disliked the selection process’s competitive nature, opting to let her work speak for itself. She was not the most qualified person for the job – other officers had longer service records and better relationships with the senior staff – but she represented a different type of candidate. With her entire career being on the Melbourne, she understood the ship’s quirks better than almost anyone else.

Olivia became the new Assistant Chief in late 2395 and thrived off of the greater responsibility. Being dual trained in engineering and operations made Olivia a valuable asset. From setting up science labs to fixing the Captain’s LCARS interface, she was the person called upon to make sure the “small” parts of the ship were functioning properly. She continued rotations in engineering, however, her new position saw a great deal of time on the bridge learning the intricacies of the ship’s resource management.

In 2399, Olivia’s tour with the Melbourne came to an end, and she had to decide on either committing to another tour or transferring somewhere else. She didn’t like the idea of starting over in a new environment; she made a home on the Melbourne, and it would take a lot to convince her to leave. Her department head offered her bigger quarters and more time as the bridge’s primary operations officer. While the offer was tempting, the USS Reliant, a small Reliant-class starship, offered her a position as Chief Operations Officer. She couldn’t pass up an opportunity to run her own department.