Bravo Fleet
Summary
Lt JG Thomas piled into the USS Honolulu along with a half-dozen or so other crew bound for the USS Hawaii, floating in dock high above the planet’s surface. She was nervous, though she was trying to not let it show. Her duty assignment had gotten changed at the last minute from a small research vessel to the Hawaii – a Sovereign class starship, and one headed into the thick of things according to the scuttlebutt.
History
Gidassa was born in an area controlled by an Orion Syndicate, to a slave woman named Shiavaa. Despite popular lore, all Orion slaves don’t serve the same purpose. They get similar training when young, but only those with the right temperament become the well-known Orion Animal Women.
Others wind up in, shall we say, less colorful occupations, ranging from cooks to teachers. They are still bought and sold, but not nearly as much fuss is made over it. Call it job security of a sort, and the way it all works is definitely complicated.
Gidassa’s particular talents were in math, science and engineering, and she was shuffled in that direction (after training) as a tutor. If she did well at that, she would likely have moved into a higher teaching role.
As Fate and Finances would have it, she got sold before being promoted a couple of times, winding up with a minor Syndicate, who didn’t follow the Codes closely – one being not selling slaves as something that they’re not. It might give the Orions a bad name. Nonetheless, she wound up with a human master for a short while, then another, and shortly after that yet a third. None of these was a particularly good fit (in her opinion) as she wasn’t doing what she was best at. Not that trolls she was working for seemed to mind.
It was after being with that third master a couple of months that he got himself into a card game, involving a lot of (real) alcohol, and quite a bit of cash. The game was attended by several would-be Star Fleet cadets, including Emma Thomas. Drunk, and cleaned out of needed cash, her previous master put Gidassa up as a winner-takes-all bid. Too drunk to see straight, much less think, Emma called his bet.
Emma awoke to a splitting headache, an alarm blaring so she could get ready to go take her entrance exam, and Gidassa at her bedside calling her “mistress” and fussing with her clothes. Not sure what else to do, she dragged her new “property” along, and desperate for a reason why she did, she told the officers that Gidassa was to be tested also. While this caused some consternation, Emma was very convincing and talked them into it.
What Emma hadn’t expected, was for her new slave to score very high marks for Math, Science and Engineering. Gidassa was accepted as a cadet, and Emma quietly dissolved their ‘relationship’ as owner/slave. Gidassa started Academy at the relatively late age of 22, and went through a good deal of counseling and “retraining” to acclimate herself to her new role as a free being. Her legal status had the Starfleet Judge Advocate General’s office having kittens. There was more than one “chat” with Cadet Emma Thomas about the whole affair before it was straightened out.
Gidassa was a fresh-faced ensign on her first ship assignment. Because of her history, it was decided that the USS Hope might have been an excellent duty, given that her past still leaves her with some… issues.
Graduated in top 10% of her class academically.