Commander Ashley Kennedy
Name Ashley Charlotte Kennedy
Position First Officer
Second Position Weapons Officer
Rank Commander
Character Information
| Gender | Female | |
| Species | Human | |
| Age | 31 | |
| Quarter Assignment | D Deck: Section 1, Room 412 |
Physical Appearance
| Height | 178cm | |
| Weight | 60kg | |
| Hair Color | Auburn | |
| Eye Color | Hazel |
Family
| Father | Vice Admiral (Ret) Nathan Kennedy | |
| Mother | Natalie Barton | |
| Brother(s) | Lieutenant Jonathan Kennedy, USS Santiago |
Personality & Traits
| General Overview | She is a hard-working perfectionist who has always been the kind of person to spend her time studying more or working out problems. | |
| Strengths & Weaknesses | She has a sharp mind and is good at problem solving. She does push herself hard, though, and doesn’t take failure very well. | |
| Ambitions | Ash plans to be a starship captain one day and command her own five year mission. All of her focus is on achieving this goal. |
| Personal History | Ashley and her twin brother, Jonathan, were born on 31 March 2246 to Nathan and Natasha Kennedy in New Adelaide on Mars. Nathan was a serving Starfleet Officer, while Natasha was a pharmacist who stayed at home to raise the twins. Nathan was away most of the time and didn’t meet his children until they were two months old. The strain on the relationship was too much, however, and they divorced when the twins were three years old. Nathan actually ended up playing a greater role in the twins’ lives after the divorce. When they were almost five, he was posted to Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. As the twins grew, they both became fascinated with space travel and exploring the galaxy. When they were old enough, they both took the Starfleet Academy entrance exams. Both passed and both were enrolled as cadets in the same cohort. However, it was Ash that excelled more than Jon. While she consistently topped classes, Jon was a middling student who was able to do just enough to get by. The difference wasn’t intellect or ability, but rather commitment. Whereas Jon enjoyed the more social aspects of Academy life, Ash shunned these and focused on her studies. Their instructors often commented that the twins were a study in the difference between ability and effort. In the end, Ash graduated third in her class and received an honours commendation from the Commandant. Ash graduated in a glut year and many of the freshly-minted ensigns found themselves with shore assignments. However, graduating near the top of the cohort ensured Ash was not one of those. Her first assignment arrived minutes after the graduation ceremony. Two days after graduation, Ensign Ashley Kennedy reported for duty as an Ordnance (Torpedo) Officer aboard the USS Darwin, a Mercury-class frigate about to commence a tour of duty along the Romulan Neutral Zone. Her first assignment was everything she had dreamed of since she was a little girl. She approached her duties with great diligence and gained a reputation as a competent officer. The Darwin didn’t see much action during the twenty months Ash served in her, but she didn’t mind. She made friends, she impressed her superiors and she earned a promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade. This promotion came with a transfer to a staff position at Starfleet Headquarters. The staff position was nominally a Liaison Officer but was, in actuality, a jack-of-all type advisory role to the Assistant Director of Strategic Fleet Capacity. In this role, she worked closely with admiralty staff and learned a tremendous amount about the strategic posture of the fleet in the face of threats from the Klingons and the Romulans. She earned praise from her boss, Commodore Toval, for her “intuitive grasp of strategic paradigms.” A year on Earth was more than enough for Ash and she jumped at the chance to get back aboard a starship. She was offered an Ordnance (Phaser) Officer position aboard the Hermes-class escort, USS Corvus. The Corvus operated as part of a squadron of starships protecting shipping around a group of fledgling colonies near the Klingon frontier in the Aldebaran Sector. It was service in this region that Ash saw her first experience of actual combat. Although she survived with barely a scratch, she saw friends die in skirmishes with Klingon raiders and once spent three days in an environmental suit when the ship lost all life support and most of her engineering crew. It was a difficult time, but it hardened her and made her more resilient. Exposure to the brutal reality of life alongside the Klingons reinforced to Ash the imperatives of personal discipline and trust in one’s crewmates. The Corvus’s captain, a man named Arthur Galloway, would often remind his crew that they were on their own and the only people they could count on was the person next to them. It was a message Ash took to heart. In early 2274, the Corvus was recalled to Sol to undergo a major refit and her crew were scattered to other billets. On the recommendation of Captain Galloway, Ash was promoted to full lieutenant and assigned as Weapons Officer on the Valley Forge-class cruiser, USS Cherenkov. Unlike the Corvus, the Cherenkov was assigned to more scientific and exploratory missions. This exposed Ash to a side of Starfleet she hadn’t really been a part of in her career to that point. But it was also the side that first attracted her to the service when she was a child. It was like a reawakening for her. Although she didn’t slacken her martial mien, she now found herself enjoying her work on a different level. Her role as a senior officer on the crew exposed her to all of the day-to-day operations of an explorer and she found herself wanting more. She once again impressed her superiors and was taken under the wing of the Cherenkov’s captain, Doliv Th’jyph. She took on more command duties and was rostered for more Officer of the Watch duties. She took to the opportunity with relish and demonstrated excellent aptitude for command. So much so that Th’jyph appointed her as Second Officer in 2276. Unfortunately, her apparent rapid rise in the Cherenkov’s hierarchy stirred some bitter resentment among some of her fellow officers. Chief amongst them was the ship’s first officer, Lieutenant Commander Oberon Kent. Ash and Kent developed a deep-seated dislike for each other and in some instances the pair nearly came to blows. Fortunately, Captain Th’jyph intervened and forced them to work together. This sat well enough for a while, but the captain knew he had to separate them. So, he encouraged Ash to enrol in Command Candidate School. The application came with Captain Th’jyph’s full endorsement and Ash was accepted into the 2277 intake. With great optimism and an excited sense of anticipation, Ash left the Cherenkov and returned to Earth to enroll in Starfleet Academy’s Command Candidate School, with a major in Advanced Starship Tactics. It was here that she came under the tutelage of Captain Elsa Gunning, a hard, disciplined starship captain with a ruthless reputation. At first, Ash was, like most of the students in the course, terrified of the so-called Black Widow. So she vowed to just do what she always did and focus on the job at hand. This attitude, and the outstanding results that came with it, resonated with Gunning and she took a shining to Ash. Although, of course, Ash had no idea. That affection was demonstrated by coming down even harder on her. Right up until the end of the course, Ash was convinced she would fail and her career would be over. She got the shock of her life when the results were posted and she topped the class. It was the crowning achievement of her career to that point and was topped off by a personal invitation from Captain Gunning to join her crew on a five year mission of exploration in Galactic South. |
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| Service Record | 2265 – 2269: Cadet, Starfleet Academy (MIDN) 2269 – 2271: Ordnance (Torpedo) Officer, USS Darwin NCC-1428 (ENS) 2271 – 2272: Liaison Officer, Starfleet Headquarters (LTJG) 2272 – 2274: Ordnance (Phaser) Officer, USS Corvus NCC-620 (LTJG) 2274 – 2277: Weapons Officer, USS Cherenkov NCC-1488 (LT) 2277 – 2278: Student, Starfleet Command Candidate School (LT) 2278 – 2278: Weapons Officer, USS Farragut NCC-1729 (LCDR) 2278 – pres: Executive Officer & Weapons Officer, USS Farragut (CMDR) |
Sim Awards [OOC]
| Commanding Officer's Merit Award |  |
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| Farragut Post of the Month |  |
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| Pegasus Fleet Post of the Month | |
