Annebell Scott

The Early Years

Annebell Scott joined Starfleet with a simplistic goal in mind, to see what great technologies the universe had to offer. This goal was born not from any great love of the science behind the technologies, but rather the love of exploring their function and finding new and creative ways to dismantle and reassemble them. As a Cadet, Bell could only keep up with the scientific courses she was mandated to take, never really showing any drive or desire to learn the science behind the tech she loved so much. It did not slow her down when it came to practical lessons in Engineering, where she climbed her way to the top of each such course with what could only be called a fanatical zeal. Given the mismatch between her theoretical coursework and her practical knowledge, Cadet Scott graduated in the upper middle echelons of her class, earning her an assignment on a rather old but reliable Ambassador-class vessel.

The Excalibur

Ensign Scott arrived aboard the aging USS Excalibur with more enthusiasm than many of her peers who transferred aboard with her. While most of her fellow Ensigns found the notion of being assigned to a vessel that had already nearly reached the end of it’s operational life cycle, Bell saw it as the perfect place for her to play her skills at ‘optimizing’ old equipment. Her Chief Engineer at the time placed her in the Energy Systems Repair department, which meant that she and those in her department had the rather inglorious job of conducting repairs on power conduits and back up power systems. Bell, for her part, was enthralled by the older model reactor plants on the ship, and spent more than a few extra hours toiling away in an effort to ‘put a little more life’ into them. While her efforts in this department bore little in the way of tangible fruit, it still garnered enough attention after her third year aboard for her to be recommended for promotion and transfer to a newer ship class.

The Venture

A newly minted Lieutenant Junior Grade Scott reported aboard the Galaxy-class vessel with all the same enthusiasm she’d had on her first ship, though it was tempered just a bit by the experiences she’d had in the preceding years. Her assignment aboard the Venture saw her working in the literal heart of the ship, the Main Engineering suite, as a Warp Drive maintainer. Her experience with the Excalibur’s reactors had given the young woman the foundation she needed to master the intricacies of the more modern systems aboard the Galaxy-class vessel. During her tenure aboard the ship, she was involved with several engineering emergencies, though none of them proved themselves to be life-threatening in the end. The experiences did, however, teach her several valuable lessons about handling high-pressure situations, namely that she hadn’t been prepared to do so despite her thoughts to the contrary. They would help to further sharpen not only her technical skills, but her interpersonal skills as well.

New Responsibilities

The Bellerophon

Six years after graduating from the Academy, Lieutenant Scott stepped aboard the USS Bellerophon, an Intrepid-class vessel with a fairly extensive history of service. Her new rank asserted all of the new responsibilities that went with it almost immediately upon her arrival, when her Chief Engineer requested that she take over as the Senior Watch Officer for the ship’s night crew. With very little experience as a leader, Bell found herself butting heads with many of the engineering crew early in her tour. The issue ranged from simple miscommunications to instances that could have been considered insubordination in the right light. It took several months, and no shortage of mentoring sessions with her superiors to finally identify what issues she was having and how to move forward. One of the counseling sessions saw her Chief Engineer comment that Bell was “a brilliant engineer, but a terrible people person.” This comment sparked some manner of competitive spirit in the woman she didn’t even know she possessed, because in only a few months the night watch seemed to change into a completely different organism. The in-fighting and personality conflicts seemed to evaporate, and productivity shot through the proverbial roof. Though she was asked about it several times in later months, Lt. Scott herself couldn’t actually nail down what really had been the cause of the massive shift, only that she was happy to have figured it out before it railroaded her career.

In her second year aboard, a vacancy opened up and Lt. Scott was offered the opportunity to fill in as the Assistant Chief Engineer. Riding the recent high of finally managing to work out her interpersonal issues, Bell accepted the job, assuming that it would only be a temporary promotion until a new Assistant reported aboard. As she came up to the six month mark in the job, she actually went to her Chief to ask when the new Assistant was going to show up, only to be told to look in the mirror amid rancorous laughter. She served out the rest of her tour being teased about her innocent assumption, thought she took it in the good spirits it had been intended.

The Hrothgar

Four years seemed to blow by, and suddenly Lieutenant Commander Scott found herself aboard the Sovereign-class USS Hrothgar. While her new rank didn’t come with any suddenly new responsibilities, position-wise, she was expected to have a full grasp of her duties as the Assistant Chief Engineer. Unlike the more developmental years she’d spent on the Bellerophon, Bell was expected to hit the ground running and keep her Engineering department running smoothly with very little intervention from the Chief. The hands-off approach of the Hrothgar’s CHENG was a far cry from her previous experiences, the only interactions they seemed to have were when something big was happening and the Commander in question couldn’t afford to take a back seat. While in the moment, Lt. Cmdr. Scott didn’t appreciate the behavior, it did help her to become not just a better engineer but a better leader. At the end of her five year stint on the ship, she came to understand that had she not gotten the help she’d received before coming to the ship, she might have ended up following the path her CHENG had, at least in the personal relations department. It was a sobering thought that carried her to her first real taste of command.

Taking Charge

The Hikaru Sulu

Lieutenant Commander Scott reported aboard the Odyssey-class USS Hikaru Sulu just after finding out she was being promoted to Commander. The change in her rank had prompted a change in her assignment, which was originally going to be another assistant position elsewhere in the Fleet. It was a welcome announcement, as Bell wasn’t certain she’d really wanted to report aboard her next ship, still a bit uneasy after leaving the Hrothgar with a bit of a bad taste in her mouth from the experience. The Hikaru Sulu would, in the years to come, prove to be the ointment to soothe those wounds. Life aboard the Odyssey-class vessel was fraught with new challenges, new experiences, and a great deal of opportunities to learn and grow even as she celebrated twenty years in Starfleet. The atmosphere she was able to cultivate in her Engineering department became something of a legacy, her experiences in her past providing to be great teachers of what should and shouldn’t take place in the heart of the ship.

During the fourth year of her tour aboard the Hikaru Sulu, Bell was offered a chance to join the Command program, an opportunity she rejected after almost a month of agonizing about it. In her heart of hearts, she was an engineer and that’s all she really and truly wanted to be. That did not, however, stop her from taking the Bridge Officer test, something her Captain had recommended so that should she ever change her mind, she would at least still be eligible for the command path later.

It wasn’t until 2401 when her decision to take her commander’s advice circled back around to prove prudent. Cmdr. Scott was asked if she might be interested in taking on a position at one of Starfleet’s shipyard facilities, to head refit projects. The engineer in her couldn’t help but rejoice at the chance, and she submitted her package in the hopes that the offer had been a serious one.