Niamh O'Donoghue

Physical Description

Niamh is a Human female with a pale complexion, brunette chest-length hair and heterochromatic eyes (blue/green). Beyond her eyes, she had no distinguishing mark, though she wears a handcrafted necklace that never leaves her neck. She is slightly taller than average, standing at 168cm and weighs around 54kg. She typically takes a relaxed approach to her hair, preferring simple braids or letting it fall loose. Due to the nature of her work, she usually always wears her duty uniform when roaming the ship. During any uninterrupted recreational time, she opts for a more casual plaid shirt/jeans combination that she rounds off with a comfortable pair of sneakers.

History

Early Years, Tycho City, Luna  (2370-2388)

Niamh Roisin O’Donoghue was born on Jan 9, 2370, to two loving parents from Tycho City, Luna. A planned addition to their family, Saoirse and Padraig had made short work bringing their daughter home, where she would meet her sister, Aoife, the woman who would impact her life the most profoundly. Originally from Eire, Earth, the O’Donoghues had moved to Luna two years before in hopes of a new start after growing bored of life on Earth. Seeking change, but not enough to be disorienting whilst they laid the foundations. Settling quickly, it didn’t take long for the O’Donoghue’s to make their roots. Niamh obviously wouldn’t remember much of their earlier years, but she would always look back fondly on her childhood.

By the time Niamh had turned sixteen, she had developed into a confident and headstrong young woman, with her future planned in minute detail. Like her sister before her, the young woman had opted to prepare for a career within Starfleet, Aoife as her guide, promptly shifting her educational focus onto fields that would better prepare her to become an Engineer. Unfortunately, the bubble of prolonged contentedness that the O’Donoghue’s were shattered in 2376 when the shuttle that took Aoife back to the academy had a systems failure, its core detonating just beyond the reach of Tycho City. While most were horrified by what had happened, it had shattered the O’Donoghue’s to their core. For the next year, Niamh would become incredibly devastated, giving up on her pursuit to join the academy, and focusing her education on social sciences. She decided that the route she had planned with her sister was too emotionally impactful for her to pursue. During this time, Niamh would describe herself as at absolute rock bottom. Distancing herself from anyone she was close with, the young woman had sought to lessen the impact should something so tragic affect her again.

2377 would change that, struggling to help their daughter manage her trauma while working through their own. At a loss, her parents signed her up for therapy, hoping that an impartial entity would be enough to finally push Niamh into meeting her trauma head-on and take the steps necessary for healing. It worked more than expected, and would prove to be inspiring. After months of talking through her struggles, Niamh considered a career in psychiatry. Though it didn’t cure her of her grief, it provided her with enough clarity to continue living, a favour she hoped to one day return. Motivated by this revelation, Niamh again began to focus heavily on getting the grades required to enrol with Starfleet.

By 2388, she was ready. With the help of her school, she managed to scrape enough grades to take the entrance. After a period of stressful eagerness, she was delighted to find out that she had been successful. Thus began Niamh’s career with Starfleet.

Starfleet Academy – Starfleet Medical (2388-2394)

Life at the Academy provided a catharsis that Niamh hadn’t expected. Starting off her path at the very place Aoife had called home not long before her death, Niamh expected to struggle, but each passing day provided comfort. Like all cadets, her first year focused on getting her acclimated towards life within the fleet. She covered the basics every officer in the fleet was expected to know, regardless of their track. Once this was over, she finally began to walk the path that would lead her towards the role of counsellor, eager to honour the legacy of Aoife, while providing comfort to those she could.

The next three years of her academy life flew by as the Cadet began to build up and reinforce the knowledge she would need to provide the best possible care she did. It was during this time that Niamh began to consider emphasising her training on dealing with Trauma, inspired by the broadcasts the Federation News Network put out regarding the Sovereignty of Kahless’ invasion into Federation. As the refugees struggles were put out, the citizens of the UFP would have a hard time dismissing the pain and trauma that the unfortunate had experienced, further motivating her to complete her studies and get out there to offer help where she could.

While most of her fellow cadets graduated and began their first assignments, Niamh opted to take on a further two year residency at Starfleet Medical, hoping to further enrich herself before heading out into the stars. Though she would enjoy her time at SFM she soon found herself itching to take up a space side assignment. As the last days of her training, her eagerness to get stuck in began to become consuming. Much of those last days were spent planning and preparing for her next step, obsessively so, much to the chagrin of those around her.

USS Hippocrates, Olympic Class, Federation Border (2394-2399)

With her training out of the way, Niamh readily accepted assignment aboard the USS Hippocrates, an Olympic Class ship assigned to the colonial support, providing medical aid to fledgling colonies along the Federation’s furthest borders. Under the wing of the Chief Counsellor, Cmdr Veronica Santiago, Niamh comfortably acclimated into life shipside and grew to acknowledge that she had chosen the right path. Being aboard a medical ship ensured that life would rarely be less than non-stop, but if Niamh grew fatigued in those earlier days, she hid it well.

That didn’t mean her career was without struggle. In 2397, the Hippocrate’s was dispatched to a fledgeling colony known as Troy IV to help with an evacuation in response to an erupting super-volcano. The weeks preceding would weigh heavily on the entire crew, and whilst other ships within the region had assisted, the Hipporcrates naturally took on the worse affected colonists. Niamh and the rest of the counselling department were rushed off their feet, providing trauma counselling to those who had survived. Niamh would later recall that this event was almost as impactful as the loss of her sister. Dealing with the grief and agony that the survivors had endured reminded Niamh of all too familiar feelings.

She endured though, and after the matter was resolved received promotion to the position of chief, allowing her to step out from under the wing of her mentor and become a mentor the junior counsellors in her own right. Though Niamh initially struggled to deal with the added pressure on top of the trauma the evacuation of Troy IV had caused, eventually she grew to enjoy her position, enjoying the distraction the extra workload provided her.

The Hippocrates would go on to assist in several more major incidents, but nothing so serious as Troy IV and nothing that an now experienced Niamh couldn’t work through. Eventually though she began to develop the itch to move on. Cmdr Santiago had no intention of transferring out and so Niamh had hit the pinnacle of her progression as Asst. Chief until a time Santiago would change her mind. Driven by her urge to improve, the counsellor began to consider alternate assignments, and in 2399 she finally settled on something.

Starbase 72, Fourth Fleet, Current (2399,)

Hearing about the humanitarian and aid efforts carried out by the Fourth Fleet, Niamh quickly requested shore leave and tended her resignation from the Hippocrates. Heading for Starbase 72, she had planned to take some R&R on the station as she awaited a meeting with someone who could find her a suitable role. However, Niamh being Niamh, the counselling officer ended her break as soon as she had arrived.

After an impromptu meeting with the CO of Task Force 72, Captain Vehl, Niamh found herself quickly shipping off to join the crew of the USS Aquarius.

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Pronunciations

Niamh Roisin O’Donoghue = Nee-uv Ruh-sheen O’Donoghue
Padraig = Paw-ruhk
Saoirse = seeuh-shuh
Aoife = ee-fa