Jane Dawson

Summary
Jane Dawson is a human scientist, currently serving as Chief Science Officer of the USS Lammergeier in Task Force 11 with the rank of Lieutenant. Being brought up in Toronto, Earth, to catholic parents, she has had a strong sense of believe and modesty instilled upon her form a young age, which has always kept her grounded in scientific matters. Making her a firm believer in things that cannot be explained, a higher design, despite ongoing andvances in her field.

Joining Starfleet, as opposed to a regular university, against her parent’s will, her duty career is not the most varied. Having always been a creature of habit, Jane stuck to the first posting she felt wholesomely at home with, under Captain Jackson Palmer. Her loyalty and skill was, in turn, repaid with swift promotions to a leading post. Thus it came to no surprise that, after sitting out the Lammergeier’s refit, she came back in a department head position to venture into the great unknown: The Shackleton Expanse.

History
Growing up in a rather well-to-do family with strong religious beliefs, Jane learned to follow rules and restrictions form an early age. Her parents both valued their family’s legacy, dating back to the Mayflower, as well as their catholic roots. Sunday services at the local church were such an early memory that upon moving to San Francisco she had actually missed the routine and felt kind of lost, for the first few months. It didn’t help that her parents hadn’t seen eye to eye with the decision and rather wanted her to go to a regular university and become a scientist in the civil field. Preferably on earth.

But Jane had needed a little sense of adventure in her life, come out of her shell, and at the same time she wanted to test her beliefs. In an age where science was still making vast strides in explaining the intricacies behind the smallest and most elusive forces, the room for religion and faith grew ever smaller. And it was exactly that tiny area of grey, that she wanted to dive into. To find the inevitable boundary between facts and fable.

At the academy itself, her penchant for putting scientific questions into relation with religious faith – often times in terms of morale and ethics – as well her somewhat quirky character, oftentimes garnered her ridicule and dismissal. But in the end that only strengthened her will. However, it also kept her as somewhat of a recluse, which she’d been most of her life before. Not a great master of social skills, the blonde had learned to function best when staying in her own head.

With perfect grades, an exemplary work ethic and heightened intelligence, Jane eventually graduated in the midfield of her class and moved to a less than prestigious posting first.

2371 - 2373
In late 2371 the USS Kepler was ordered to a five-year exploratory science mission into the Typhon Expanse. Fresh from the academy Jane was among the skeleton crew that ferried the ship from earth to Deep Space 4, which would become the mission base. From here the Kepler would chart and explore this elusive corner of space.

Among the many discoveries and findings were several new plant and animal species, twelve of which were sentient yet nowhere near warp-capable. Through analyzing, observing and cataloguing their findings, the plucky young scientist soon discovered her love for how live always found a way to adapt to an environment. Among the lower decks crew of the vessel there was usually a bet going on what species were to be expected on a planet after the initial long-range scans came in … a bet which the ensign usually won.

On top of that, intent on exploring that ultimate border of science, Jane fostered a rather apt understanding of how gravitational anomalies in the Hanson-Dewitt effect – as were present throughout the expanse – were directly related to propagation of habitable worlds. A thesis which ultimately garnered her a promotion halfway through the mission.

2373 - 2376
Having been granted the liberty to further investigate and prove her theories in a small lab of her own, with two aids assigned to the project, Jane worked out a detailed probability study for the charted portion of the expanse that outlined areas where the Kepler would most likely discover planets able of supporting life. A system she later perfected to include likelihoods of special minerals and resources, in celestial environments.

Yet even though such precise data existed, the admiralty chose not to adapt the Kepler’s predetermined exploration pattern. And while that was a gentle slap in the scientist’s face, her work was still well received and lauded, granting her an immeasurable leg up in the still ongoing best among the crew.

At the end of the mission a solid 89% of the original predictions had been proven to be correct. However, since the simulation pattern was adapted to the special conditions present in the Typhon Expanse – and the impossibility to adapt it to other areas of space at the time – it never became a widely used system of determining probabilities. Yet the data is still in use today among the continuing effort to map the Typhon Expanse and it has been proposed that another area of use could, indeed, be the Shackleton Expanse.

2376 - 2379
Returning to earth after half a decade away, Jane took a few months to reunite with her family and rekindle a connection that had been lost when she joined Starfleet Academy. Finding her parents to have missed her tremendously, old hatchets were buried gladly and their newfound connection focused on her achievements and plans. It was in that time that Captain Jackson Palmer, on a quick visit to Starfleet HQ while the Lammergeier went through a brief refit at Starbase 211, approached the young Lieutenant for a replacement of his Junior Science Chief.

As the ship was slated to move on to the Maelstrom, a mostly unexplored section of space, he wanted someone on his staff with the necessary expertise. The volatile and inhospitable nature of this area would prove a challenge not only for the ship itself, but also its crew and specifically its science staff. Ahead of arriving there, jane had actually studied a lot of local myths and beliefs of species surrounding the Maelstrom. Analyzing them and – together with astrometric data – putting them in relation with reality, thus forecasting some of which they would eventually find there.

And even though the situation eventually dissolved into political red-tape and displays of aggression it still proved plenty for science to do as telemetry and stolen data from the advanced weaponry came in that the Kessok supplied. And even though they were not able to discern the means of protection against them immediately, their studies laid the groundwork for further adaptions later down the line. Especially after relations with the warrior race became more amicable after Starfleet’s intervention.

2379 - 10/2379
The Lammergeier returned to earth for a major refit and Jane was offered a position on the USS Drake, which she gladly declined. Even though there was no direct outlook at an improvement on her position, but she trusted in her faith that it was the right decision.

Her superior, the Lammergeier’s previous Chief Science Officer, ultimately took the position on the Drake, that was originally intended for Jane. And thus, Captain Palmer gladly rewarded her loyalty with a promotion and the appointment to CSO, as soon as his ship was back in space.

Now, after a long journey, Jane arrived at the precipice of unexplored space, the Shackleton Expanse. And contained within everything that she loves and lives for. The ultimate border between science and faith, perhaps?

Appearance
Standing at a slightly taller than average 5’9”, with silky golden hair and blue eyes, Jane is not hard to look at. She sports a slender frame, yet adorned with some voluptuous, curtesy of her mother’s fragments of DNA. Yet the smarts and introversion are all her father. Despite that slight isolation and timidness, the blonde still manages to fit into any social setting by her welcoming looks and smile and alone.

Having grown up in a catholic household, a rarity on earth in that day and age, Jane is very subdued in her external flamboyance. Subtle make-up, no overtly revealing clothes in her private time, and no outward displays of affection in public. To the point where one could assume she was on duty 24/7.

Motivation
When joining the crew of the Lammergeier, Jane was instantly swayed by the sense of comradery and family, that exuded from the top down. The air of calmth that Captain Palmer radiated throughout every situation, how he never blamed anyone for their mistakes, but rather dealt in terms of working out ways of improvement for the future. It just all resonated incredibly favorably with her. So, it was an absolute no brainer to stay put, as the Lammergeier was put into refit, signifying the ongoing mission of their little family.

Palmer had taken incredible fate in promoting a young Lieutenant Junior Grade, who had only served on one ship before, and make her his Deputy CSO. A trust she was – and always will – hold dear. Till the end of the line.

Episode 01

 * Day 01 | 0000 hrs. | Thread Title with Character 01, Character 02, Character 03