Margaret Pierce

Early Life (2361—2379)

The daughter of two Starfleet officers, Margaret Pierce was born in 2361 while her parents were instructors at Starfleet Academy’s flagship San Francisco campus. Unlike many Starfleet brats, she spent the entirety of her childhood on the planet’s surface; each time her parents contemplated a move back to space duty, another crisis convinced them to stay put. She witnessed the devastation of San Francisco during the Breen attack in late 2375, and this was one of many formative memories that made a future career in Starfleet not so much a choice as an inevitability.

Pierce was always a reserved, studious child, though not due to any particular insistence on her parents’ part. She simply preferred reading and studying to socializing with her peers. While she branched out some in high school, her enrollment in the Starfleet Academy Preparatory Program starting at the tail end of the Dominion War only intensified her taciturn nature. Pierce passed the Starfleet Academy Entrance Examination on her first attempt in 2379.

Starfleet Academy (2379-2383)

Upon matriculation, Pierce elected to study both physics and interstellar relations, reasoning that Starfleet’s core exploratory mission was best served by a detailed understanding of how the universe functioned on both a physical and political level. She was observed by her instructors to be exceptionally detail-oriented, though they also noted that she was likely to assume hostility in exercises involving the hypothetical unknown. Because of the attack on Earth just a few years prior, she found this to be an imminently reasonable stance.

During her midshipman cruise on Earth Spacedock, Pierce trained in tactical and intelligence roles. The more and more she learned about life in space, the more appealing a career in one of these defense-oriented roles seemed to her. Coming in at around 1.6 meters, she knew she would struggle in close combat situations, so she studied phaser marksmanship extensively to make up for this shortcoming. Though serious and studious, Pierce was never quite able to break into the top ten percent of her class but hovered right around the top quartile instead. When she graduated, she was cleared for space duty and promoted to ensign.

Early Starfleet Career (2383-2388)

Pierce’s first assignment out of the Academy was to one of Starfleet’s ubiquitous California-class utility cruisers, the USS San Clemente. While she had requested a tactical vessel, she was proud to at least be given an assignment that allowed her to serve on the bridge as a relief tactical officer. Whenever senior officers were called away during alpha shift, she was able to stand behind the captain’s chair at the tactical station, and she often was assigned the tactical officer role during gamma shift as well. Following two years of exceptional service, Pierce was promoted to lieutenant junior grade and earned a full tactical officer’s billet aboard the Antigua, a Parliament-class utility cruiser very similar to the San Clemente.

Department Head (2388—2401)

From the late 2380s through to the beginning of the 25th century, Pierce served in various department head roles of increasing seniority in tactical and intelligence roles on two starships and Starbase 72.

USS Enceladus (2388—2394)

Pierce’s first assignment as a senior officer was to the starship Enceladus, a Luna-class light explorer assigned to surveys in the deep alpha quadrant, coreward of the Federation’s assets along the Breen frontier. This mission was one of the last such long-range missions authorized after the destruction of Utopia Planitia in 2387, and one of the Enceladus‘s key objectives was to verify that the Breen were remaining within their existing borders. A newly minted lieutenant, Pierce integrated well aboard the Enceladus, especially considering that she found their mission to be a perfect task for a Starfleet ship-of-the-line.

USS Defender (2394—2397)

Promoted to lieutenant commander upon Enceladus’s return to Federation space in 2394, Pierce transferred to the newly-commissioned USS Defender, an Inquiry-class heavy cruiser. In addition to the role she had held previously as chief tactical officer, she also served as the second officer on the Defender. Like many of her sister ships, Defender was tasked with force projection along the Federation’s border with Romulan space. Pierce found this assignment less satisfying than her time aboard Enceladus because she thought that Starfleet should be actively looking for the unknown, not sitting and waiting to react.

Starbase 72 (2397—2401)

In 2397, Pierce was offered a role as a senior intelligence analyst on Starbase 72, with a special focus on examining reports of the space beyond Cardassian territory, which was out of the reach of Starfleet’s exploratory mission. Pierce accepted this position, which came along with a promotion to commander, as she was intrigued by the idea of learning what might be out there. The change in her pace of life was a rough transition, as she thrived in the high-tempo environment of a starship. A desk job was not well suited to her constitution. Though she stuck it out for nearly four years, Pierce kept a constant eye out for intriguing starship postings during that time.

Command (2401—Present)

In 2401, Pierce made the transition from tactical and intelligence to command, following over eighteen years of success in a gold uniform.

USS Antares (2401—Present)

Pierce was one of several applicants to serve as the first officer to Captain Noah Armstrong aboard the Intrepid-class starship Antares in 2401. She was selected because of the way in which her skills complemented Armstrong: he was a biologist and a diplomat by trade, so he needed someone who would be able to apply cool, analytical precision to tactical decision-making. Beyond that, he needed someone who was used to operating in dangerous areas. In short, she was perfect for the role. Pierce embarked on Antares at Deep Space 17 on the last day of 2400, her appointment taking effect on New Year’s along with a large proportion of the ship’s other senior officers.