Katrerrarere Plawl-Tess

Ensign Katrerrarere Plawl-Tess is an engineer on the USS Odyssey.
== Context ==
In 2135 the United Earth sent colony ships to several M class planets deemed habitable by the Starfleet scouts that had visited them as a part of a colony scouting initiative. While many of these colony vessels arrived at their worlds and safely unloaded their passengers some became lost to the void of space. This was mostly a result of pirate attacks, ship malfunctions, and unpredictable anomalies. The USS Lightaway was one of the vessels lost to Starfleet scans. An investigation of their last point of contact showed a plethora of Neutrino particles in a particular area in addition to other signs of an open wormhole. The space the USS Lightaway had traveled through was turbulent with spatial anomalies so the likely theory that Starfleet scientists deduced was that the ship encountered a random wormhole and was pulled in. With no technology available to track where the ship went, United Earth pronounced the colony ship missing in action along with its crew not knowing the USS Lightaway survived its journey through the wormhole and colonized a planet a few light-years away from the exit point.
The ship was heavily damaged and communications were beyond repair. The Captain made a sharp decision to land on the nearest M-class planet they could find on sensors. Upon landfall, the first impressions of the planet were generally well. The colonists could grow crops, distill water, and using the prefabricated structures and the ship itself they managed to maintain shelter as well.
The colony would flourish for the next 3 years. After not receiving contact from anyone or anything from the greater galaxy the colonists gave up on trying to find a way home and continued developing the colony both above and below ground. In the 4th year of the colony's existence, the planet's geography and atmosphere started to suddenly change. The fauna started to die out, the grass and dirt lost any life they had in them and started to turn into a rusty red. Sand from large deserts on the planet started spreading across the surface and the atmosphere started to thin allowing for an increased amount of cosmic radiation to bombard the surface. The previous idyllic landscape turned to a hellish dead planetoid in just a month.  People had to don air rebreathers and heavy clothing to survive on the surface. Never before creature aberrations started to appear on the surface from an unknown location attacking anyone in sight. The colonists were being massacred and the panic caused infighting to flourish among the general populace. People were dying from dehydration, malnutrition, the hostile environment, or other colonists. Many colonists formed factions and left the main settlement to find a way to survive on their own. One such faction was a group of scientists and engineers who pooled enough resources to create an atmospheric processor underground allowing for them to survive the cataclysm. 
Using their technological prowess the group managed to assert a significant amount of influence on other survivors of the colony. The leader, the chief engineer of the Lightaway, led his group from an underground cave system where they would construct a new settlement using the technologies and resources they could scavenge. They were spared from the chaos and persevered through it. 
As the years went by the group ended up sending expeditions to the surface looking for any remnants of humanity that they could find. They discovered that many other groups survived but were just barely getting by day by day. Also, they discovered multiple ancient ruins unearthed by the sudden change of environment. They contained several technological relics, computers, and manufacturing systems centuries ahead of human understanding. What they could decrypt boosted the survivor's knowledge of the planet along with allowing them to upgrade and expand on several key systems, technologies, and structures within the underground complex. They were the most technologically advanced faction on the planet and quickly they started to bring other groups of survivors under their banner. Things started to shift from trying to survive day by day to being able to expend resources to send out expeditions into the desert to locate and acquire these ancient artifacts, computers, and databases. Through these discoveries, the group found out that the planet was a terraforming experiment conducted by an extremely old and advanced species. When the humans crash-landed the terraforming AI didn't know what to do with them and just considered them hostile thus causing the cataclysm that killed so many colonists. The chief engineer, still the leader of this group, became obsessed with finding the terraforming control center. He believed he could reverse the changes that the alien AI had done to the planet using the knowledge he gained from the artifacts and ruins. 
Eventually the control center would be found but deep in hostile wildlife lands hundreds of kilometers away from their main settlement. The man led the largest expedition he had ever assembled through the hostile lands, dealing with constant attacks from wildlife, sandstorms, and other implements orchestrated by the AI. The expedition took heavy casualties but by some miracle, they managed to endure. They breached the underground facility and the chief engineer, using his extensive knowledge of the alien systems he learned from the alien artifacts, managed to lead his faction through the facility avoiding security measures and attacks from the Alien computer. Once they reached the AI core the group got trapped. The Machine was going to gas them until the chief engineer hacked into the control center's database and discovered something that could save all their lives. The ancient aliens managed to create a procedure to transfer a biological consciousness into data in an attempt to give mortality to their species. The chief initiated this procedure, transferring himself into the AI core and overtaking the alien AI. However, before the chief engineer won his battle the AI managed to sabotage several systems causing many changes to be irreversible.  The planet would permanently be a desert with only a few select water sources populating its surface. The atmosphere recovered fully and the creatures the AI had spawned were led away from remaining human settlements. The planet would never become what it once was but the colonists would be able to do more than survive. Unfortunately, the cost for all of this was the chief engineer. He was immortalized into the AI core becoming the custodian of the planet and gatekeeper of all alien systems left behind by the ancient species. Using his predicament he would be able to help the colonists decrypt, reverse engineer, and apply any data, research, and artifacts they discover in the wasteland.
Centuries would pass and the events of the first 30 years on the planet would be shrouded in mythology and religious dogma. The colonists would thrive both technologically and in terms of population. The settlement of engineers and scientists managed to unite all the human settlements on the planet under one banner. Advanced cities and factories both above and underground would be created using the technological discoveries decrypted by the chief engineer stuck in the AI core. The colonists worshiped him as the vessel of the Machine God as well as the machines that he helped them create. An entire religion centered around knowledge, technological discovery, and the spiritual embodiment of both philosophies the Machine God would be established and everyone was a part of it. Extensive mechanical enhancement became commonplace to one day become one with the machine-like their savior did centuries before and discover everything they know about the universe to accomplish this goal.
== Background ==
Katrerrarere Plawl-Tess was born in one of the underground cities on July 23rd, 2395. She was the sole child of two engineers of the government's engineer corps who were the lead researchers on several experimental projects. Before her birth Katrerrarere was labeled as a control variable by the government meaning she would be barred from receiving any mechanical augmentations for her entire life as per their laws and religion. It was made so that in an event that any disease, infection, or mass body rejection from the extensive mechanical enhancements, that much of the populace had, occurred they would be able to use up-to-date scans, tissue samples, antibodies, etc to help cure the ailments. The years have proven that the law was extremely effective and while looked down upon by much of the population people labeled as control variables are told that they were necessary sacrifices so that the rest of the human species can evolve and eventually become one with the Machine God. Only 1 in every 500 children born would receive the designation and regardless of what the government and religion stated officially society deemed it as a curse. 
Growing up she was forced to go to government-sanctioned schools with others labeled like herself. Those schools tended to be underfunded and neglected which resulted in poor education and job opportunities for all who graduated. Most parents of children labeled as control variables would typically allow them to follow this fate and abandon them for another child. Katrerrarere's parents, however, didn't agree with this mindset. They loved their child and while required to take her to the government-sponsored school they started to teach her everything they could while at home. It was hard at first, having cybernetically enhanced brains that could easily transfer data and knowledge between an individual only worked if the said individual had a cybernetically enhanced brain so they had to resort to a more conventional way of teaching. She caught on quickly despite her disadvantage. She could see patterns in designs and disassemble then reassemble them to see how they work on a fundamental level. Math and science came easy to her and the engineering that her parents taught her was highly advanced even for non-control variable children. She was extremely intelligent compared to other children her age and when at school she would often impress the teachers which were uncalled for. 
Until her 16th birthday, Katrerrarere mostly consisted of going to school, going to worship, and learning from her parents who often took her to their research projects against the wishes of the government. Often she would be scrutinized and bullied by the augmented but she managed by falling back to her faith in the Machine God. 2411 planetary sensors detected a high-speed object enter the system radiating high amounts of energy and radiation. Quickly scientists deduced that it was a ship similar to the one that ferried them to the planet and immediately opened communications with it. Their response was one of distress. It was a Starfleet ship, defiant class and its Captain stated that anomalies disabled their warp drive and damaged several key systems forcing them to crash land on the planet. The colony's sensors extrapolated their landing sight and an expedition lead by  Katrerrarere's parents were dispatched to investigate them. To the expedition, it seemed like a sign from the Machine God that the Starfleet vessel teeming with knowledge and technology managed to arrive on the world. It was a holy day to them, however, the ship crew was only confused. They questioned how a human colony full of machine worshiping cybernetic augments existed on the fringes of Federation space. Both parties filled each other over the past 400 or so years. The expedition, while shocked about how humanity progressed, turned the situation around to further reinforce their state religion, especially after they sent their report to the government. The Starfleet crew were considered emissaries of the Machine God and were considered to be divine figures. Of course, the crew denied all claims of being holy symbols from their God but it didn't stop the expedition from doing all they could to repair their vessel. 
Weeks would go by and repairs on the vessel were going well with both colony scientists and Starfleet engineers working together to complete the task. Katrerrarere's parents led the repair effort on the colonial side. The near-fanatical worship of them did make the Starfleet crew uneasy. Often they questioned many aspects of their religion including Katrerrarere when she came with her parents. They saw how the rest of the colonists treated her like a second-class citizen, how they recoiled whenever she spoke or touched consoles with her bare hand. The Starfleet crew was impressed with her knowledge of systems that she had no experience with prior. The XO of the vessel seemed to befriend her which led many of the more zealous scientists to doubt the divine nature of the new visitors. On the other hand, the way the Starfleet crew talked about the federation and Starfleet seemed like heaven to the colonists. With so much technology and knowledge, the Starfleet vessel was just a small piece of it. While no one said anything out loud as it would be blasphemy, many of the colonists wanted to join the emissaries and leave to this federation, Katrerrarere's parents included.
Eventually, the repairs would be completed and the Starfleet crew, changed by their experience on the planet, would set to depart. During the same time, Katrerrarere would be chosen by the government for medical experimentation as an unfortunate result of her designation of control variable. Her parents knew she would most likely die and even if they managed to pull some strings all the potential she had was going to go to waste. Control variables could never rise to any specialist positions in their society and would most likely spend their entire lives doing menial tasks in the factories that dotted the planet both above and underground. The colony was no place for Katrerrarere to thrive and her parents believed her only chance to use her potential and follow the path the Machine God put before her was to give her to the Starfleet crew. They communicated this to their daughter the best they could, giving her everything she could need in a backpack and datapad. The night before the Starfleet crew was to leave and Katrerrarere was to be taken, the family would leave their underground dwelling and travel the long distance to the Starfleet ship. It wouldn't take long for government forces to mobilize and pursue them. They were labeled as heretics for their actions and marked for death, this prompted the pursuing government forces to open fire on them. 
The family managed to avoid destruction just in time for them to reach the Starfleet ship. After pleading passionately with the Captain of the vessel they agreed to take her. This caused the Starfleet ship to be attacked by the formidable colony defenses. It took heavy damage to shields as it took off and just as they were about to go down the firing stopped allowing for the ship to escape and return to Federation space. As they left there were signs of energy weapon discharges across cities on the surface suggesting that the colony sprung into a civil war though it wasn't confirmed.
The ship would report in at the nearest Federation outpost and the crew would debrief with Starfleet command.  The first contact was a disaster but it was hardly in ideal circumstances. Starfleet command gave the crew the benefit of doubt when it came to their conduct on the planet and would send diplomatic envoys to reconnect the lost colony with the rest of society if possible. Additionally, after hearing how Katrerrarere came to join the crew Starfleet granted her full citizenship since her ancestors never renounced their citizenship from United Earth. With nowhere else to go and with a recommendation from the Captain, Katrerrarere decided to enroll in Star fleet Academy so she could begin what her religion demanded of her. To seek technology and knowledge and understand the universe she lived in through the eyes of machines blessed by the Machine God. 
Katrerrarere arrived at the Academy in the latter half of 2411. It was a very unnerving experience being exposed to so many different things and species. There was no one culture, no one religion that she could relate to someone with. While she didn't have friends back at home she had never felt as lonely as she did during her first year at the academy. To cope she fell back to her academics and her religion which somewhat filled that void. 
She selected the engineering track after her first year at the academy. It was only natural considering her upbringing and Katrerrarere was good at it. Most of the time she got top marks on her assessments. People came to her for help on the course work and she happily obliged scoring points with others in her class. As the months went by Katrerrarere would lose that sense of loneliness and make several friends who didn't scrutinize or bully her because of her designation. They helped her adjust to her new environment and Katrerrarere couldn't remember the last time she was this happy;She only wished her parents could see her again one last time.
2415 Katrerrarere would graduate the Academy in the top 10 of her class as a Starfleet Engineer. Her high academic achievement allowed her to be stationed at most postings In Starfleet. The USS Odyssey was her pick and the woman wouldn't arrive on the vessel until just after its refit and before it launched on its mission to investigate the anomalies near Vulcan. With faith and courage, she would embark on this mission knowing the Machine God is watching over her and is leading her to accomplish its plan. 
== Appearance ==
5'7, 133 lbs, Pale skin due to living underground. 
== Personality ==
Katrerrarere, due to her upbringing, can come off as a bit distant and robotic. Much of her mannerisms seem stiff and she is often blunt in her conversations. She respects authority and position but wouldn't hesitate to let everyone know if she agrees or doesn't agree with a stance or action. The woman, however, isn't doing any of this out of a sense of superiority or malice at others, it's just simply how she was raised. She isn't opposed to being reclusive and welcomes discussions with others about any and all topics no matter how pointless they may be, though she will state it is so. Katrerrarere in all is a very calculated individual that can be quite nice to interact with when you get to know her.
== Psych Evaluation ==
Due to her designation as a control variable Katrerrarere religiously cannot don any cybernetic enhancements like her fellow colonists extensively do. She often has to face never experiencing the cybernetic bliss her religion promises and has to be content with never becoming one with the machine, the ultimate goal of mankind in her eyes. It depresses her in situations where such enhancements would be useful but she has to be relegated to the eyes she was born with only seeing in the visible spectrum among other things. Otherwise, she is quite physiologically healthy.
== Medical ==
Due to living underground for most of her life in a mostly close environment she is extremely sensitive to most suns and visible light. It's more of an annoyance than an actual medical issue and she typically deals with it by wearing a large amount of sunscreen and taking eye drops. Additionally, when she gets sick however rare she gets extremely sick often to the point where she needs to be taken off duty.
== Other information ==
* Likes: Technology, New Discoveries, Machines, Computers, Robots
* Dislikes: Dirty People, Judging Religious views, and the outdoors
Category:Characters
Category:Odyssey Crew
Category:Engineering
Category:Human
Category:Ensign
Category:Female
Category:Junior Officer
Category:Ob2lander961