Samantha Hyland

Samantha Hyland was born amongst the stars of the Gamma Quadrant, one of the numerous progeny born to Starfleet Officers serving aboard the venerable Galaxy – class vessel USS Venture. Sam grew up terrorizing the decks along with a cohort of unruly children from a kaleidoscope of different races as the great ship roamed the cosmos on its mission of peacekeeping & exploration.

Sam’s Father, Lieutenant Jonas Hyland, imparted a fascination for comparative history and culture – in keeping with his profession as a Xenoarcheologist. From Jonas – Sam developed an inquisitive mind and an analytical approach to all but the most self – evident of mysteries. Her Dad used to say that “Every answer to the future lays in the past – a story waiting to be spoken again.”

Dad was annoyingly cryptic sometimes, but always presiding with a warm and wry smile – waiting, gnomically, like Prometheus for the thaw of realization to uncrease his daughter’s determinedly – furrowed brow.

What better prize was there in the realm of creation?

Samantha’s relation with her mother was more straightforward and distinctly complicated at the same time. Ensign Freya Hyland was an Operations Officer, and her manner and outlook was all business. Mom could not abide wasted time or effort and (whilst loving) often seemed exasperated by Sam’s disorganized and headstrong nature.

As Sam grew to early tweenhood these tensions would often lead to conflict and it was during one of these disagreements that Ensign Freya Hyland perished in a shuttle crash during a freak ion storm – leaving Sam as a star unable to reach critical mass.

This loss impacted Samantha profoundly. With so many things to say unsaid and unsayable, Sam withdrew within herself for a while and when she emerged it was as a young woman no longer disorganized, and her uneven temper now tempered. She began to apply herself to her studies assiduously. Her quarters began to be maintained meticulously, and she began to run the halls and decks that she had once played in – haunted by the recent past & driven towards a determined goal.

On her 16th Birthday – Samantha Hyland enrolled into Starfleet Academy, departing the USS Venture aboard the shuttle that would begin the first leg of her long journey to San Francisco – there to pit her determination against one of the most demanding training regimens in Federated Space – in the hopes of becoming a Starfleet Officer.

As a Red Squadron Cadet, Sam elected to Major in Communications Studies at the Academy – with a Science Minor in Applied Sociology & is driven by an abiding conviction of the importance of ensuring connection and understanding between disparate parties – primarily through the conduct of diplomacy & the deft application of linguistics.

When Sam graduated the Academy as a newly minted Ensign, she visited the memorial to those that had fallen in the line of duty and left her hard – won rank pip in front of the eternal flame in mute tribute to her mother (and in some ways a bitter-sweet “See? I TOLD you….”)  and set out to join her graduating classmates as they began to describe their own arc amongst the stars.

For the majority of her Career Lt (Jg) Hyland was glad to distance herself from her life aboard the USS Venture (lingering phantoms of residual guilt not cleared for departure from Shuttle bay 2) & has served as a Command Liaison/Comms Officer aboard Starbase 72 and has been content in her work – but has recently yearned to realize her potential as Command Officer & return to a life in transit amongst the stars, so she put in a transfer request for Shipboard duty and was accepted as a Bridge Officer aboard the California Class Utility Cruiser USS Sacramento (NCC-75580) – gaining promotion to the rank of Lieutenant (Sg) shortly afterwards.